The key ambitions of the tobacco products EPR scheme are to:  

• Reduce cigarette butt littering in public spaces across French national territory;
• Support local authorities financially;
• Raise consumer awareness of the impacts of cigarette butt litter;
• Participate in research and development studies investigating innovative solutions to collect and recycle cigarette butts, and ways to reduce their impacts on the environment and health. 

The products concerned 

The products concerned by this EPR scheme are tobacco products fitted with filters made wholly or partly of plastic and products intended for use with tobacco products.

For further information, see article R543-310 of the Environmental Code. 

The producers concerned by the tobacco products EPR scheme are: “natural persons or legal entities that, in a professional capacity, place for the first time on the national market, tobacco products fitted with filters, whether containing plastic or not, or products intended for use with tobacco products, with a view to transferring them to the end consumer”.

For further information, see article 10 of decree no. 2020-1725 of 29 December 2020. 

The specifications set the following targets: 

* national population coverage rate. 

French regulations

• Specifications: Order of 23 November 2022  
• Accreditation of the ALCOME producer responsibility organisation: Order of 28 July 2021
• Data reporting: Order of 12 December 2022
• Definition of the scope of the scheme: Decree no. 2020-1725 of 29 December 2020
• Scope of the scheme: Articles R543-309 to R543-310-2 of the Environmental Code
• Legislation establishing the scheme: Article L541-10-1 of the Environmental Code 

European Union regulations 

• Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment: Directive 2019-904 of 5 June 2019  

The producer responsibility organisation ALCOME provides local authorities with financial support to reduce cigarette butt littering.  

ALCOME is also responsible for carrying out awareness-raising and communication campaigns at a national level, highlighting both the environmental impact of dropping cigarette butts as litter and the risks of starting fires in natural areas.  

Lastly, ALCOME is required to help finance research and development studies investigating innovative collection and recycling solutions.  

Local authorities are required to take preventive measures, particularly by providing cigarette butt bins in public spaces, and to keep the streets free of cigarette butts.