No asses about it: the city of Baltimore wants tobacco companies to pay to clean up their non-biodegradable cigarette filters.
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, the city wants to hold tobacco companies responsible for cleaning up cigarette butts, “millions” of which have been found in the water around the city since 2014, according to NBC affiliate WBAL-TV .
“There are all kinds of cleanup issues, from catching them to getting rid of the chemicals they leave in them,” James Shea, Baltimore’s attorney, told the news station.
Mr. Shea said the lawsuit seeks as much as $5 million annually for the cleanup, and claims the tobacco companies have refused to put warnings about how to properly dispose of the filters on their boxes for fear of reduced sales. And even the companies could make the filters biodegradable but have chosen not to, according to the lawsuit.
“They didn̵
7;t change it — according to documents we’ve seen — to biodegradable filters because smokers preferred the draft that comes with the filter,” Shea said.Source link
