Environmental Impact of Commercial Tobacco

Commercial tobacco products like cigarettes and e-cigarettes have a large impact on our environment. These products contribute to the litter problem, with cigarettes being the most littered product in the US and e-cigarettes contributing to the single-use plastic problem and electronic waste. Throughout their lifecycle, tobacco products contribute to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, litter, single-use plastic waste, and electronic waste, threatening our planet and our people.

Environmental Impact of Commercial Tobacco Toolkit

On this page, you can find a wide range of information about the environmental impacts of commercial tobacco. These resources include: 

The following additional materials are available upon request:

  • Environmental Impacts and Hazardous Waste Presentation
  • Examples of Letters of Support and Letters to the Editors on the Environmental Impacts

To read more about the environmental impact of commercial tobacco, visit our blog posts: “Tobacco Industry Impact on the Environment” and “The Environmental Impacts of Vaping that the Tobacco Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know”.

Tobacco – Threat to our Environment (WHO SEARO)