The plans of the Generalitat of Catalonia to invent new environmental taxes have found a new target in cigarette butts, according to the draft of the waste law prepared by the Catalan Executive, although its application will not be a reality, at the earliest, until mid-2024, according to information compiled by elEconomista.
The starting idea, which will be submitted to public information towards the end of June or beginning of July, involves making the smoker pay a deposit of 20 euro cents for each cigarette (4 euros per pack). The Generalitat will refund the amount to users when they return the cigarette butts. They will do so in tobacconists and recycling points, which must be equipped to provide this new service one year after the entry into force of the law, at a cost borne by the manufacturer.
In this way, a standard smoker who returns around 90% of the butts would recover about 927 euros each year. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, directed by Teresa Jordà, calculates that it would receive 154.44 million that, it assures, it would allocate to awareness and cleaning tasks.
“The objective is to avoid that, as has happened up to now, 70% of the cigarette butts generated in Catalonia end up lying on the ground or dumped into the sea,” explained the director of l’Agència de Residus de Catalunya, Isaac Peraire, in a interview with The Newspaper.
Anti-smoking measure collides with state law
However, it is not even clear that the new waste law in which the measure against cigarette butts is framed will pass the sieve of the courts regarding its jurisdictional validity. Several sources consulted by elEconomista point out that the norm collides with the state regulation that the Government foresees and that it will also force manufacturers to take charge of product residues.
This is how the Tobacco Table, the institution that brings together the entire industry, considers it. “This type of media linked to the extended responsibility of the producer is a state competition,” he warns. And he adds: “this is reflected in the recently approved Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils for a Circular Economy; in which as a sector we are already working”.
“The law does not allow us to store products that give off an odor,” warn the tobacconists
The sector declines to be more specific with the tax, since it does not appear in the draft of the law, but it does request “proportionality and efficiency” from the Catalan Executive.
The Gremi d’Estanquers de Catalunya also alleges difficulties for the storage of cigarette butts. “The law does not allow us to store products that give off an odor and can harm the conservation of tobacco; for this reason it is unfeasible that we can be collection points,” they denounce.
In addition, they warn that the tax will increase tobacco smuggling and regret that the new tax will cause the residue to be more valuable than the original content of each package.
The focus of the Generalitat is not only on tobacco. According to the draft of the waste law to which this newspaper has had access, the large waste to combat with a monetary deposit that encourages its return are also batteries, electronic devices and glass containers. In addition, the rule contemplates the prohibition of items such as single-use coffee capsules, plastic bags, the rings that join the packages of cans or non-reusable ink cartridges.
Facebook Comments
Disqus