Erion Care is born, the first Consortium in Italy for filtered smoke product waste
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The European Directive 904/2019, known as Single Use Plastics or SUP (transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree no. 196 of 2021) has the fundamental objective of combating marine pollution caused by single-use plastic products and plastic fishing gear. The measures envisaged are aimed at reducing the amount of waste produced and dispersed in the environment, through targeted actions depending on the products considered.
In particular, for the products listed in Part E of the annex, Article 8 of the Directive instructs Member States to provide for the establishment of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, requiring producers to ensure
- the coverage of the costs of consumer awareness measures in order to encourage good behaviour;
- the coverage of the costs of collection, transport, treatment of waste deriving from their products, as well as the removal of the respective waste dispersed in the environment;
- the monitoring of implemented actions in order to comply with transparency criteria.
Among the listed products are also the so-called filtered smoke products, for which the Directive sets the deadline for the establishment of EPR schemes at 5 January 2023. Waste from such products, such as cigarette butts, contain highly polluting and hazardous plastics, especially for river and marine ecosystems, as well as having a very high rate of dispersion in the environment. Such waste is in fact the most widely discarded in the world, representing a serious risk to the environment and health: if not disposed of properly, filters are broken down, releasing not only microplastics but also heavy metals and many other harmful chemical substances.
In Italy, in order to fulfil its producer responsibility obligations, Erion Care was officially established in June 2022. This consortium is the result of an agreement between the main multinationals operating in the tobacco sector: Bat, Imperial Brands, JT International and Philip Morris.
The newly formed consortium will therefore have to cover the costs of collection and transport of waste from filtered smoking products, as well as consumer awareness and education. Erion Care has placed particular emphasis on this second point, stating that 'the mission of the Erion Care Consortium[...] will focus on the prevention of environmentally unsound behaviour', such as littering, which is already punishable.
For further information:
Erion Care is born, the first national consortium to prevent the abandonment of tobacco product waste in the environment (La Repubblica)
Alessio Haberstumpf