The Issue
Between 2013 - 2024, SOS collected 463,783 cigarette butts from beaches, open spaces, and public areas! As the singularly most identifiable item littered locally, we know this is just a snapshot of the cigarette litter that continues to negatively impact human and ecosystem health.
Individual Action Matters
Save Our Shores is part of a coalition fighting to end the sale of filtered tobacco products in Santa Cruz County. In October 2024, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance to 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 banning the sale of filtered cigarettes.
This win is pivotal to the future of our beaches, water quality, and the safety of marine life. We are currently working on a campaign to pass similar ordinances in other jurisdictions.
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. In 2019, Senate Bill 8 was signed into law, effectively banning smoking in all state parks and beaches, but cigarette litter continues to be a problem.