After roughly one and a half years, Ocean City residents and guests finally may put their butts on butts, after the Ocean City Green Team received and installed four benches made out of recycled cigarette filters on the Boardwalk and at a local bar. “We are all very excited to finally have the benches on the Boardwalk,” said Sandi Smith, Maryland Coastal Bays Program Development and Marketing coordinator.   Created by TerraCycle, a private recycling company based in Trenton, New Jersey, the benches are the byproduct of hundreds of thousands of cigarette butts collected from Ocean City’s beach.   Beginning last spring, the team, via Ocean City Department of Public Works staff, installed cigarette filter receptacles or “butt huts” all over the Boardwalk, and later throughout the resort on beach entry points.   Cigarette filters are not only the number one litter in Ocean City, but around the world according to nonprofit group Ocean Conservancy, which is based in Washington D.C.   The organization has hosted a beach cleanup event, which is now a global effort, since 1986, and each year the group has found that cigarette butts are the number one item littering coasts — with more than 60 million collected in a little over 30 years.   Cigarette filters are made with cellulose acetate, a type of plastic that takes years to break down in the ocean and leeches toxins into the water.   In regards to turning the litter into a bench, Smith said the team found a Facebook post that featured a supposed cigarette filter bench. “It was the coolest looking bench ever,” Smith said.   The team contacted TerraCycle, and discovered that the company had not created it.   TerraCycle later discovered, on behalf of the team, that the bench was not even made out of cigarette butts, Smith recalled.   Nonetheless, the faux cigarette bench had acted as a catalyst, and the initiative was in full swing.   Traditionally, when TerraCycle produces a bench, it features a small placard that explains its unconventional building material, but Smith said the team wanted to send a stronger message.   Working with local cartoonist Marc Emond, who created the butt recycling program’s seagull mascot and provided his services gratis, and local sign company Sun Signs, the various partners worked for more than a year and a half on the endeavor.   “Marc Emond had come up with the fun little goofy gull that’s on all of the butt huts with the message, ‘Put your butts in here,’ and so we felt like to brand it and market it we wanted that goofy gull on the bench saying, ‘Put your butts on these butts,’ Smith said.   The seagull would draw a visitor’s eye to the bench, which would then, hopefully, heighten his or her curiosity to the messaging.   “The hope and goal was that people would affiliate that crazy gull with the butt huts and the benches and possibly look for the butt huts to put their cigarette butts in,” Smith said.   The four benches were shipped to the city two weeks ago and immediately installed throughout the Boardwalk.   In addition to the main slogan, messaging on the benches include, “This bench is made from recycled cigarette butts that have been kept out of our waterways,” on top, and a 1.800.QUIT.NOW number on the bottom right corner.   The program’s seagull mascot rests on the left side of the sign surrounded by freshly flicked cigarette butts.   Patrons of Seacrets Bar and Grill on 49th Street also will be able to make butt-on-butt contact, as the establishment had been a long and enthusiastic supporter of the project.   “When we originally started this program, they supported it 100 percent and they bought one of the benches — they donated funding for a bench,” Smith said.   With the benches installed and ready for sitting, Smith and the green team can finally check the project off their list, for now.   “I never thought it would take this long,” Smith said. “Even TerraCycle was like, ‘Kudos for the tenacity.’”   For businesses interested in installing a cigarette filter receptacle email Smith at sandis@mdcoastalbays.org.