The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to clarify its stand on terming cigarette butts ‘biodegradable’.
‘They are hazardous’
A Bench headed by the NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said: “Butts of cigarettes and beedi s are hazardous in nature. How can you call them ‘biodegradable’? You take clear instructions and inform us.”
The observation came after an advocate representing the MoEF told the green panel that cigarette butts were ‘biodegradable’.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Doctors for You, an NGO working for cancer care, which had prayed that the Centre be directed to declare cigarette and beedi butts “toxic waste”.
Next hearing on July 27
The matter has now been fixed for next hearing on July 27.
The tribunal had earlier issued notices to the MoEF, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a petition filed by a doctors’ body seeking prohibition on consumption of tobacco in all public places, and proper disposal of related waste.
