he NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island recently collected and recycled 10,900 cigarette butts (weighing 8.7 pounds) from locations such as designated non-smoking areas on the Aquarium site, beaches and roadsides. And for the record, recycling company TerraCycle is the organization that actually counted the number of cigarette butts. The Ocean Conservancy says cigarette butts are the top item collected globally during coastal cleanups.