According to Keep America Beautiful, 65 percent of all cigarette butts are disposed of improperly and cigarette waste accounts for 38 percent of all U.S. roadway litter. But Gail Wedding from Laytonville and Russell Minor from Potter Valley are doing their part to keep their cigarette waste out of the local landfill by sending it to recycling pioneer TerraCycle. This recycling program is a joint effort between Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. and TerraCycle, which teamed up to create The Cigarette Waste Brigade, a national program to collect and recycle cigarette butts and other cigarette-related waste, according to Jeff Kranz of TerraCycle. Participation in this nationwide Brigade is limited to adults, aged 21 and older.  It is free, and all shipping costs are paid by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.  For every pound of cigarette waste TerraCycle receives, one dollar is donated to Keep America Beautiful. The collected cigarette butts are recycled into a variety of products, primarily plastic pallets for industrial uses. Any remaining tobacco or paper is composted. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable and do not break down quickly.  They, and other related tobacco waste, are the number one item recovered during the annual Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day, with more than 52 million cigarette filters collected from beaches in the past 25 years. The Cigarette Waste Brigade accepts extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, loose tobacco pouches, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper, and ash. TerraCycle does not accept the cardboard packaging of cigarette boxes since they can usually be recycled through municipal recycling programs.