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Legislation will help recover costs from cleaning up cigarette litter
06/29/09 - Mayor Gavin Newsom today commended the Board of Supervisors for its support of a fee on cigarettes sold in San Francisco. The fee, which today was unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee, will recover the cost of cleaning up cigarette litter on sidewalks and in gutters.
"All litter creates unnecessary costs for the city and its taxpayers," said Mayor Newsom. "Cigarette butts are a big part of the problem."
City studies reveal that cigarette-related litter makes up 25% of all litter found on sidewalks and in gutters. To help recover the cost of cleaning up cigarette litter on City sidewalks and gutters a $0.20 per cigarette pack regulatory fee has been proposed. Newsom included this fee as a line item in his June 1 budget and introduced this legislation to enact a regulatory fee to recover these costs from the consumers of cigarettes.
Retailers will be responsible for reporting and remitting the collected fee back to the City on a regular basis. The collected revenue will go back to City departments charged with collecting litter.
Newsom also said that cigarette litter is bad for the environment.
"Cigarette butts contain benzene and toxic heavy metals that can poison the marine environment and leach into groundwater," he said.
Newsom said that researchers at San Diego State University have learned that chemicals from just one filtered cigarette butt can kill all fish living in a one-liter bucket of water.
The legislation will be voted on by the full Board next week.
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