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. Russell Minor collects his cigarette butts at home and stores them in an old "oil rag" can until it is time to send them to TerraCycle.  To spread the word, he shows his friends how easy it is to collect at home. "I feel the more people divert from landfills, the better off our planet will be," said Minor. "It's important that as much waste as possible gets diverted from the landfills into a new life as something useful." 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. Visit www.terracycle.com to learn more about TerraCycle or sign up for the Cigarette Waste Brigade.