"LEAVE YOUR BUTTS BEHIND" COUNTY PROGRAM CLEANS UP


There are no buts about it: Cigarette butt litter is a huge problem in our community. Butt litter is ugly, dirty, and is dangerous for small children and animals. In Santa Barbara County alone there are about 41 tons of cigarette butts littered annually, and 88,000 tons littered throughout the US. That’s a lot of butt litter! It collects at our parks, beaches and shopping centers, and gets washed away by rain into our streams, rivers and eventually into the ocean. In fact, it is estimated that 80% of littered cigarette butts end up in our waterways.

Once in the ocean, cigarette litter has the potential to pollute and harm aquatic ecosystems. Not only do the filters of cigarettes contain chemicals, like arsenic and acetone, that leech into the water and compromise its quality, but cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic that can take up to 25 years to biodegrade. By throwing a cigarette butt in the gutter or out of a car window you could be contributing to the pollution of the ocean.

In addition to the hazard they post to our wildlife, cigarette butts are also dangerous for our children. Littered cigarette butts contain more than 4,000 toxins and may be inundated with microbes. Small children pick up all sorts of items off the ground to put in their mouths, and cigarette butts are no exception.

Also, improperly extinguished cigarette butts are a major cause of fires. There are an estimated 1,000 deaths and 3,000 injuries per year as the result of fires started by smoldering cigarette butts.

So, let’s do our part to keep our beaches and neighborhoods clean, and to help keep our children and wildlife safe. If you choose to smoke, please throw your butts away in an ashtray or place them in your pocket until your get to a place you can throw them away. It is a small step that can have big results!