
The city of Baltimore is suing several major tobacco companies, demanding up to $5 million per year to fund the cleaning of cigarette butt litter.
City government officials stated that over 12 million cigarette butts have been cleaned up from the waters surrounding Baltimore since 2014.
James Shea, a lawyer in Baltimore, stated that there are various cleaning issues, ranging from picking up cigarette butts to removing the chemicals they leave behind.
The lawsuit alleges that tobacco companies have refused to place warning labels on packaging on how to properly dispose of cigarette filters, and have chosen not to make filters biodegradable.
Shea said that based on the documents they have seen, the company did not switch to biodegradable filters because smokers prefer the suction devices that come with the filters.
Shea stated that the ultimate goal is to make these companies more environmentally friendly. "We hope to put an end to these practices, but at the same time, we want compensation for the costs of cleanup and fines related to violating various waste regulations." These companies have 30 days to respond in court.
Announcement:
This article has been compiled from third-party information and is intended for industry discussion and learning purposes only.
This article does not represent the views of 2FIRSTS, and 2FIRSTS is unable to confirm the authenticity and accuracy of the article's content. This article's compilation is solely intended for internal industry research and communication purposes.
Due to limitations in the level of translation, the translated article may not fully reflect the original text. Please refer to the original article for accuracy.
2FIRSTS maintains complete alignment with the Chinese government on any domestic, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and foreign-related statements and positions.
The compilation of information belongs to the original media and author, and if there is any infringement, please contact us for deletion.
This document has been generated through artificial intelligence translation and is provided solely for the purposes of industry discourse and learning. Please note that the intellectual property rights of the content belong to the original media source or author. Owing to certain limitations in the translation process, there may be discrepancies between the translated text and the original content. We recommend referring to the original source for complete accuracy. In case of any inaccuracies, we invite you to reach out to us with corrections. If you believe any content has infringed upon your rights, please contact us immediately for its removal.