NEWS
Albuquerque becomes latest city to sue tobacco companies over butt pollution
Suit aimed at Big Tobacco but also local cigarette manufacturer and distributor
Published
Modified
The city of Albuquerque is following in other locales鈥� footsteps by filing a lawsuit against Big Tobacco 鈥� not for the health costs but for the accumulation of butts in local waste.
The suit was filed Wednesday in 2nd Judicial District Court against several tobacco companies and distributors, including Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The suit also names as defendants New Mexico companies Santa Fe Natural Tobacco 鈥� which makes Natural American Spirit cigarettes 鈥� and Blue Sky Distributors.
The civil action comes weeks after Denver and filed similar suits against Philip Morris and other tobacco companies.
In 2022, Baltimore filed the first such suit in a case that is ongoing, and in March, the due to a 1990s settlement agreement over health damages from smoking.
The city of Albuquerque accuses the companies of several violations, including being a common law public nuisance, continuing trespass and negligence through design, among others. The lawsuit seeks attorneys' fees, punitive and compensatory damages, recovery of costs associated with cigarette butt cleanup and the companies to "fund, participate in, or otherwise bear responsibility鈥� for abatement measures to address butt pollution on city property.
鈥淥ur storm drains should carry water, not toxic garbage,鈥� Mayor Tim Keller said in a news release. 鈥淎nd the companies profiting from these products should take responsibility for the lasting harm they have on the environment and our essential systems.鈥�
None of the defendants returned requests for comment Friday.
The first clause of the lawsuit quotes the Philip Morris International website: 鈥淏y 2030, there could be more cigarette butts than fish in the oceans鈥� but cuts the last part of the sentence 鈥� 鈥渋f littering is not reduced.鈥� The clause heads up PMI鈥檚 assurance that it is implementing strategies 鈥� 鈥� to reduce plastic litter from its products by 50% by 2025.
The city of Albuquerque said in the suit that 鈥渢he widespread environmental deposition of discarded cigarette filters is neither random nor extraordinary.鈥�
鈥淩ather, it is the foreseeable, recurring, and statistically predominant consequence of the ordinary and intended use of filtered cigarettes,鈥� according to the suit. Modern cigarette filters are primarily made of cellulose acetate, a synthetic plastic that does not biodegrade 鈥渦nder ordinary environmental conditions.鈥�
The suit states time and exposure may cause the filters to fragment, but the associated microplastics and underlying material 鈥減ersists in the environment and continues to require municipal collection, removal, management, and disposal.鈥�
The plastics, with the help of rain and wind, make their way from sidewalks and parks to storm drains and waterways, according to the suit, which states the 鈥渨idespread deposition of discarded cigarette filters is neither accidental nor an unforeseeable misuse of Defendants' products.鈥�
The suit states each filtered cigarette sold 鈥渃reates a foreseeable risk鈥� that its butt will be left on public property and impose 鈥渞ecurring operational, environmental, maintenance, and remediation burdens that continue long after the product has been consumed.鈥�
The defendants also failed to adopt feasible alternative designs 鈥渢hat would eliminate or materially reduce the persistent plastic waste created by their products,鈥� according to the suit.
The suit states, 鈥淧laintiff alleges that Defendants knowingly externalized the foreseeable costs of managing persistent plastic cigarette filter waste onto municipalities while retaining the economic benefits derived from the manufacture and sale of filtered cigarettes.鈥�
PMI鈥檚 website contains a 2020 video in which Senior Product Branching Scientist Stefanos Papakyrillou discusses why the company hasn鈥檛 moved to a paper filter for more biodegradability 鈥� 鈥渢he consumer acceptance was very low to none.鈥� Papakyrillou explains they were testing other materials as a replacement and hoped to find a material 鈥渂iodegradable in all mediums鈥� by 2025.
More recently, , which did not appear to have identified a biodegradable filter material. Instead, PMI planned to substantially phase out cigarettes by 2030 and 鈥渕aximize the benefits鈥� of vape and other smoke-free products, 鈥渕aking them available in 100 markets鈥� and continue to increase the total number of users.鈥�
