The City of Baltimore wants tobacco companies to pay to clean up their non-biodegradable cigarette filters, no matter what.
According to NBC affiliate WBAL-TV, the city wants to hold tobacco companies responsible for the cleanup of cigarette butts, “millions” of which have been found in the waters around the city since 2014.
“There are all kinds of clean-up issues, from catching them to getting rid of the chemicals they leave behind,” Baltimore’s solicitor, James Shea, told the news station.
Mr. Shea stated that the lawsuit is seeking up to $5 million per year for cleanup, claiming that tobacco companies have refused to post warnings about how to properly dispose of cigarettes.
They are afraid of losing sales because of the filters on their boxes According to the suit, the companies could have made the filters biodegradable but chose not to.
“According to documents we’ve seen, they didn’t change it to biodegradable filters because smokers preferred the draw that comes with the filter,” Mr. Shea explained.
