Ban the Butt
The problem...
Between 2013 - 2023, SOS collected 439,358 cigarette butts from beaches, open spaces, and public areas! As the second the top littered item locally, we know this is just a snapshot of the cigarette litter that continues to negatively impact human and ecosystem health.
Left: cigarette butt cleanup data from 2018-2023
Did you know that cigarette butt litter is not only single-use plastic waste (filter), but it is TOXIC waste?
The Cost
The cost of cigarette butt litter is high, both economically and environmentally.
Impossible to Remove
Cigarette filters in the environment will break up into as many as 15,000 microfibers, further polluting our waters and environment with ever smaller bits of plastic that are essentially impossible to remove.
Toxic
The butts leach toxic chemicals into the environment including nicotine, lead, and arsenic that contaminate our food, soil, and water.
Expensive Locally
A study estimated that public litter abatement or removal of cigarette butts could cost between $3 million to $16 million for each U.S. city.
Expensive for California
Picking up littered items including cigarette butts costs taxpayers and organizations big money. California invested $1.1 billion in state and local waste clean-up in 2021.
Did you know? In 2019, Senate Bill 8 was signed into law, effectively banning smoking in all state parks and beaches.
A Unanimous Vote!
On October 29th, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors finalized its approval of an ordinance an ordinance that will ban the retail sale of filtered tobacco products in unincorporated Santa Cruz County! The ordinance, commonly known as “Ban the Butt” will make Santa Cruz the only county in the nation to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes.
This win is pivotal to the future of our beaches, water quality, and the safety of marine life. Cigarette filters are the single most identifiable litter item on our beaches, with Save Our Shores alone collecting almost 500,000 cigarette butts between 2013 and 2023. Our data shows that cigarette butts make up about a third of all plastic items collected during our cleanups.