The City of Santa Cruz Bans the Butt!

By: Jadyn-Kathleen Polk and Katie Thompson, 06/25/25

This week marks a major victory in our fight against littered cigarette butts! On Tuesday June 24th, Santa Cruz City Council held its second and final reading of the ordinance behind the Ban the Butt campaign, which seeks to ban the retail sale of filtered tobacco products. Council members unanimously voted for the ordinance, making its passage official.  Save Our Shores has worked with other organizations like Santa Cruz County, The Cigarette Surfboard, and the Tobacco Education Coalition, as well as with community members for years toward this victory. Kudos to this effort that is truly interdisciplinary–a collaboration that is seeking to improve both public health and the environment. We are thrilled that Santa Cruz is leading the way into a healthier future for our ocean by passing policies that aim to reduce one of the largest sources of litter globally.

“We applaud the Santa Cruz City Council for taking bold action to protect our ocean, wildlife, and community health by voting to ban the sale of filtered tobacco products. This ordinance is a critical step toward ending the toxic legacy of cigarette butt pollution along our coast. Santa Cruz is once again showing leadership in environmental stewardship—and we’re proud to stand behind this effort.” – Katie Thompson, Executive Director of Save Our Shores

Why this is important:

Cigarette filters are the number one item found at Save Our Shores cleanups. In Santa Cruz City, from 2013 to 2024, Save Our Shores volunteers collected 189,154 cigarette butts. They’re made out of a non-biodegradable material known as cellulose acetate and soaked with toxic chemicals like arsenic and lead. When these butts get into our environment, those same chemicals do too. Banning the retail sale of filtered tobacco products is also the first step in eliminating cleanup costs for tobacco litter, which in the City of Santa Cruz is estimated to exceed $2 million annually. 

Next steps:

We expect to see more cities along our coast passing similar ordinances as we envision statewide and nationwide shifts that prioritize keeping toxic environmental waste out of our communities. This victory at the City builds off a similar action by Santa Cruz County in October 2024. Implementation of the ordinance is scheduled for January 2027, pending the passage of a similar ordinance by one more jurisdiction within the county. The next city we will be campaigning to adopt this ordinance is Capitola–join us! Read more about the Ban the Butt campaign here.

About Save Our Shores: 

Save Our Shores was formed as the result of a grassroots campaign to prevent oil drilling off our coast in the early 1980’s. We’ve continued to advocate for smarter ocean policies and coastal protections ever since. Our mission is to foster thriving and sustainable ecosystems in the Monterey Bay and surrounding habitats through equitable environmental action.