The Sea Angels’ mission isn’t only to preserve Palm Beach County’s coast, but also to make the sand and the seas a safer place for the animals that call it home. Cigarette butts are the No. 1 littered substance on county beaches, said Lourdes Ferris, executive director of Keep Palm Beach Beautiful Inc. “Cigarette butts are made from 97 percent plastic fibers and are not biodegradable,” she said. “Animals take them with all their carcinogens and use them to build their nests, and then we find a lot of them in the stomachs of turtles and other animals.” More than 31,000 pounds of litter were collected from county beaches in September, according to Keep Palm Beach Beautiful statistics. Of that amount, cigarette butts made up 23 percent. “It’s not enough to just clean; these things will stay in the environment,” Robyn said. “We have a responsibility to follow through and make changes.” After Sea Angels collects the litter, members reuse the materials to create recycled artwork before dumping it. And any material that is not accepted by the Solid Waste Authority, goes to TerraCycle — a company that makes textiles out of recycled products.