Cigarette filters are made of non-biodegradable plastic and are one of the top littered items worldwide. Here, we determine if policy implementation is an effective strategy for reducing cigarette filter litter on beaches in Maui, Hawai'i by comparing cigarette filter counts before and after a policy banning tobacco use was implemented. We use a before–after control–impact (BACI) design to investigate whether changes in cigarette filter accumulation at an impact site, where tobacco use was banned, decreased relative to counts at a control site, where tobacco use was not banned. A total of 764 cigarette filters were removed with no significant difference detected in cigarette filter littering between the control and impact site after the policy went into place. This study shows that policy requiring a shift from social norms, such as tossing cigarette butts, needs to be accompanied by sustained law enforcement and awareness around the policy to be effective.

香烟过滤嘴由不可生物降解的塑料制成，是全球最常见的垃圾之一。在这里，我们通过比较禁止烟草使用政策实施前后的卷烟过滤嘴数量，确定政策实施是否是减少夏威夷毛伊岛海滩上卷烟过滤嘴垃圾的有效策略。我们使用前后控制影响 (BACI) 设计来调查在禁止使用烟草的影响地点的卷烟过滤嘴积累的变化是否相对于未禁止使用烟草的控制地点的数量减少。政策实施后，共移除了 764 个香烟过滤嘴，在控制和影响地点之间的香烟过滤嘴垃圾中没有检测到显着差异。这项研究表明，需要转变社会规范的政策，