FALLBROOK – The cigarette butt: part filter, part holder for the smoker, but toxic waste for the planet.
This is one of the cigarette butt recycling units along the Pico Promenade, before it was vandalized.
Cigarette butts are the most common toxic waste found in cleanups and as anyone who has participated in one of Fallbrook Beautification Alliance community clean ups knows, they are also the most familiar and yet sometimes the most difficult item to pick up.
Every year billions of cigarette butts end up in dumpsters and landfills, or just as often tossed as litter on shorelines, parks and Fallbrook streets. That 1" filter wrapped in paper looks innocent enough, but is made of a synthetic fiber called cellulose acetate, a non-flammable thermoplastic polymer and, according to the World Health Organization, it contains "over 7000 toxic chemicals, including known human carcinogens, which leach into and accumulate in the environment."
Volunteers with FBA's Keeping Fallbrook Litter Free program, such as board member David Lynch, continue to clean streets and parks throughout Fallbrook. The diligent use FBA-provided pickers to pluck the filters from gutters and sidewalks, putting them aside to recycle with the help of FBA's partner TerraCycle. Lynch, who works to clean litter throughout historic downtown Fallbrook, has collected 15,850 cigarette butts since the start of 2021, focusing his efforts along Main Avenue and adjoining streets. (Data by Terracycle)
Terracycle has found ways to recycle not only the cigarette filter, but other cigarette waste as well. Extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, loose tobacco pouches, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper and ash, all can be recycled or composted.
In 2017, FBA purchased the first of three cigarette recycling disposal units, and installed them along the Pico Promenade walking path, an area traditionally found to be littered with cigarette waste. The conveniently placed units, with assistance from FBA Board Member Jean Dooley, enabled 46,678 cigarette butts to be recycled, (Terracycle) although plenty more were dropped along the path or carelessly discarded in plants or near benches.
Last month, one of the cigarette disposal units was vandalized, and removed from the promenade, leaving FBA with the task of seeking funds to replace the $100 unit.
Keeping Fallbrook Litter Free volunteers who clean litter along neighborhood streets, report that the majority of cigarette butts appear to be discarded by drivers at stop signs or driveway entrances, revealing that drivers intentionally toss the chemically infused filter, risking that their careless action may cause a fire or impact freshwater microorganisms and marine life when the substances are leached out, traveling through gutters and storm drains to the ocean.
These are all the cigarette butts collected by David Lynch in August 2021
It’s not uncommon to see discarded cigarette remnants littering roadsides, parks and even the lakeshore. However, a recent collaboration between the Superior Watershed Partnership, the city of Marquette and community volunteers aims to help address the issue, as they have installed five containers in the city that discarded cigarettes can be placed in, and later recycled.
The containers are made by TerraCycle, which specifically recycles cigarette filters that are sent in to it. For every pound that is collected, TerraCycle will donate $1 to the Keep America Beautiful organization.
This effort is critical, as cigarette filters don’t break down easily and can remain in an area long after they are discarded. Furthermore, they pose a fire risk if not put out properly and can even make their way through the stormwater system to Lake Superior, where they can contaminate the fresh water that humans, plants and animals depend upon.
“There were a handful of sites that were identified where cigarette butts were washing up,” said Kathleen Henry, education and special projects coordinator for the SWP.
Community volunteer Margaret Brumm is involved in the effort.
“I started this summer, horrified to find fireworks debris and cigarette butts in all the dry grass, and I wrote a letter to all the city commissioners,” Brumm said. “There was a lot of behind-the scenes discussion.
“One day the Superior Watershed Partnership reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this. Do you want to be involved?'”
Brumm agreed to taking part in the project because she spends time traveling “from parking lot to parking lot” with a broom and a dustpan, sweeping up the debris.
“When I was a young person, people smoked everywhere and dumped stuff everywhere,” she said. “People didn’t wear seat belts. People smoked indoors. The cultural change in my own lifetime has been extraordinary. We’re now taking it one step further. It’s not acceptable to throw this on the ground.
This is where the new containers, such as the one placed at Clark Lambros’ Beach Park, can come into play.
“What we’re try to do is change the cultural expectation, which is, you don’t see anybody smoking indoors anymore,” she said. “Maybe pretty soon, we don’t see anybody flicking cigarettes on the ground. We see them looking for this, or just being aware to put it in the trash bags.”
We commend all involved parties for their efforts to keep our lands and waters clean. We encourage residents to not only avoid littering, but to be part of the solution by picking up litter and properly disposing of it. It may seem like a small action, but it’s one that will help protect Lake Superior, and by extension, all living things that depend upon its clean, fresh waters.
Not a week goes by when we don’t see trash dropped on a sidewalk, street, parking lot, along highways … by people who have not regard for our environment.
Slobs, we call you.
What else do you call someone who is so lazy they simply throw their trash onto the ground out in the open?
Oh, there’s another word: criminal.
Whether littering or illegally dumping garbage, it is against the law in Pennsylvania, and violators can be prosecuted by a number of different state agencies.
OK, let’s transition from that rant, but on a related subject.
Over 500 million pieces of litter were found along state roadways in 2019, according to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, a non-profit organization that since 1990 has been devoted to keeping communities in all of the state’s 67 counties clean and beautiful.
Of the total estimated litter, 186.2 million or 37.1 percent were cigarette butts.
Enter the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, created by the larger Keep America Beautiful organization in 2002. It is the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette butt and cigar tip litter.
The program provided the state organization with a $20,000 grant this past year. Collaborating with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the group was able to reduce the number of cigarette butts left behind in 10 state parks in 2020 by 42 percent.
To date, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in 35 of the 121 state parks with an overall, combined reduction rate of 67 percent.
They did this by installing ash receptacles at points of entry and providing portable ashtrays to smokers using the parks.
This program is not just reducing litter. The group is partnering with Terracycle to recycle cigarette refuse by shipping cigarette collections to the company.
There, the materials that make up a cigarette are separated. The filters are melted into hard plastic to make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and residual tobacco and paper are separated and composted.
Cigarette butts may contaminate soil and ground water with chemicals and heavy metals; fatally impact birds, animals and marine life who often mistake them for food; and the filters, made of cellulose acetate, never fully disappear from the environment, according to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
It seems like a very small piece of debris to get so much attention. Left unchecked, it adds up.
That said, we tip our hats to this program.
And smokers, we ask that you dispose of your butts in a proper receptacle and not on the ground.
As the group’s name says, do your part to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful!
GREENSBURG — Two agencies have teamed up to reduce the number of cigarette butts carelessly discarded in Pennsylvania State Parks, and are planning to continue the project.
A $20,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program was used in 2020 by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to reduce cigarette litter by 42% in ten state parks.
To date, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in 35 of the 121 state parks with an overall, combined reduction rate of 67%.
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful received additional funding of $20,000 to continue their work in 2021-2022 in Sizerville, Little Buffalo, Cowans Gap, Laurel Hill, Keystone and Ryerson Station state parks.
The CLPP program begins with a scan, or physical count, of cigarette butts and other tobacco related products. Ash receptacles are then installed at points of entry, like entrances to public buildings, and portable ashtrays are distributed to smokers who visit the parks. In addition, the state parks agree to encourage the enforcement of litter laws, which includes cigarette litter, and educate visitors about the consequences of cigarette and other tobacco related litter.
Two other scans are performed, one midway through the year and a final count at the end of the program.
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and participating parks are partnering with Terracycle to expand the program to include recycling and composting of the cigarette butt waste. Cigarettes collected at the state parks are shipped to Terracycle where the various materials that make up a cigarette are separated and processed. The filters are melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets. The residual tobacco and paper are separated out and composted in a specialized process.
According to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s 2019 Pennsylvania Litter Research Study, over 500
million pieces of litter were found on Pennsylvania’s roadways. Of the total estimated litter, 186.2 million or 37.1 percent were cigarette butts.
Cigarette butts that are thrown on the ground can contaminate soil and ground water with chemicals and heavy metals; fatally impact birds, animals and marine life who often mistake them for food; and the filters, made of cellulose acetate, never fully disappear from the environment.
“During the pandemic Pennsylvanians have turned to state parks and forests in record numbers, as time outdoors has been critical to our well-being’” DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. “We are asking all of our visitors to help us care for these special places by leaving no trace and disposing of all trash properly. We appreciate Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s support in expanding cigarette litter prevention to an additional six state parks as it is a big help to our DCNR staff caring for them and providing all with the opportunity to enjoy them.”
GALVESTON, Texas — Two local nonprofits have banded together to tackle an immense pollution problem in Galveston: cigarette butts.
Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) and Surfrider Foundation’s Galveston Chapter are working to reduce the enormous number of discarded cigarette butts on the island’s beaches, streets, and sidewalks by installing at least 50 butt cans as part of the “Hold On To Your Butt” (HOTYB) program. The groups joined forces to expand the program thanks to a generous grant from Keep Galveston Beautiful. The program will collect the butt litter at a number of locations on the seawall, downtown, in parks, and on fishing piers throughout Galveston Island. The program will also launch a recycling program, create a public education and outreach program, and engage volunteers in citizen science — volunteers will collect data and send the butts to be recycled by TerraCycle.
Cigarette butt litter is the most common form of litter found in beach cleanups and the filters in the butts are made from plastic. This litter is unsightly and is dangerous to marine life; birds and fish accidentally ingest it thinking it is food and the hazardous chemicals from one butt contaminates two gallons of seawater, making it lethal to small marine life like crustaceans. Unfortunately, cigarette butts have become an almost socially acceptable form of litter.
“Galveston is an island, any litter that goes on the ground whether on the beaches, sidewalks downtown, or neighborhood streets will be washed into the storm drains when it rains, and eventually end up in the bay and ocean,” said Kimber De Salvo Anderson of Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Through community science and expanding the HOTYB monitoring program, we can assess the extent of Galveston’s cigarette butt pollution problem, bring public awareness to it, and educate the public on how to combat it.”
In 2017, TIRN initiated their Cigarette Butt-ler program by installing 18 cans at popular fishing piers on Galveston, Galveston Island Fishing Pier, 61st Street Pier and Seawolf Park, to help encourage community members to properly dispose of their butt litter. In 2020, Galveston Surfrider launched their HOTYB program to educate visitors and residents about the dangers of cigarette butt litter to the environment and to provide receptacles for the disposal of that litter. In just half of a year, HOTYB collected more than 5,000 butts from the first few cans installed in August 2020.
“Providing cigarette butt cans is a way to make it easy for folks to do the right thing, but probably the most important part of the program is just making people aware. Cigarette butts are plastic, they’re toxic, they take forever to decompose, and they’re ugly. Everybody benefits if you HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTT,” said Rob Glover of Galveston Surfrider.
If you want to make a difference on the island by reducing butt waste, contact
hotyb@galveston.surfrider.org to volunteer.
Turtle Island Restoration Network is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore populations of endangered sea turtles and marine biodiversity on the Texas coast and throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
www.seaturtles.org/gulf
The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network.
galveston.surfrider.org
Over 500 million pieces of litter were found along state roadways in 2019, according to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, a non-profit organization that since 1990 has been devoted to keeping communities in all of the state’s 67 counties clean and beautiful.
Of the total estimated litter, 186.2 million or 37.1 percent were cigarette butts.
Enter the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, created by the larger Keep America Beautiful organization in 2002. It is the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette butt and cigar tip litter.
The program provided the state organization with a $20,000 grant this past year. Collaborating with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the group was able to reduce the number of cigarette butts left behind in 10 state parks in 2020 by 42 percent.
To date, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in 35 of the 121 state parks with an overall, combined reduction rate of 67 percent.
They did this by installing ash receptacles at points of entry and providing portable ashtrays to smokers using the parks.
This program is not just reducing litter. The group is partnering with Terracycle to recycle cigarette refuse by shipping cigarette collections to the company.
There, the materials that make up a cigarette are separated. The filters are melted into hard plastic to make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and residual tobacco and paper are separated and composted.
Cigarette butts may contaminate soil and ground water with chemicals and heavy metals; fatally impact birds, animals and marine life who often mistake them for food; and the filters, made of cellulose acetate, never fully disappear from the environment, according to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
It seems like a very small piece of debris to get so much attention. Left unchecked, it adds up.
That said, we tip our hats today to this program.
And smokers, we ask that you dispose of your butts in a proper receptacle and not on the ground.
As the group’s name says, do your part to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful!
SOLVE, Portland Business Alliance, and Portland Lodging Alliance with the support of Ethos Commercial Advisors held their last Downtown Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day of 2020 on Friday.
More than 226 volunteers attended the event, and many brought warm clothing to donate to Transition Projects’ ‘Keep Portland Warm’ winter clothing drive, adding to the spirit of giving back. In total, more than 3,100 pounds of litter and debris was removed from city sidewalks, parks, and business fronts.
The totals from Friday add to the already impressive results from the last three Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days. With today’s event being the last of the year, SOLVE is happy to report that more than 1,200 volunteers have removed over 13,000 pounds of litter from downtown Portland since these monthly events began in early September.
The popularity of these events shows that Portlanders have a sincere pride in where they call home and are willing to come together as a community take care of it through the simple act of picking up litter. Volunteers who attended today’s event also were given “Here for Portland” stickers, a campaign that supports shopping small and local this holiday season. With so many people working from home, many Portlanders do not visit downtown as frequently as they used to. The Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day helps to bring community together in a place that has been hit hard economically by COVID-19.
During the event, volunteers received heavy duty garbage bags, vinyl gloves, a safety vest, and a litter grabber before spreading out to clean the Rose City. Common items found include cigarette butts, disposable masks, and take-out containers. The cigarette butts collected at this event are recycled by Terracycle, and in-part due to the popularity of these events, SOLVE was able to reach more than half a million cigarette butts recycled with Terracycle.
The next Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day will be held on January 18, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anyone who is interested in joining SOLVE’s cleanup efforts should visit
www.solveoregon.org to learn more and get involved. Disposal for the Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days is donated by Central City Concern.
SOLVE, Portland Business Alliance, and Portland Lodging Alliance with the support of Ethos Commercial Advisors held their last Downtown Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day of 2020 on Friday.
More than 226 volunteers attended the event, and many brought warm clothing to donate to Transition Projects’ ‘Keep Portland Warm’ winter clothing drive, adding to the spirit of giving back. In total, more than 3,100 pounds of litter and debris was removed from city sidewalks, parks, and business fronts.
The totals from Friday add to the already impressive results from the last three Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days. With today’s event being the last of the year, SOLVE is happy to report that more than 1,200 volunteers have removed over 13,000 pounds of litter from downtown Portland since these monthly events began in early September.
The popularity of these events shows that Portlanders have a sincere pride in where they call home and are willing to come together as a community take care of it through the simple act of picking up litter. Volunteers who attended today’s event also were given “Here for Portland” stickers, a campaign that supports shopping small and local this holiday season. With so many people working from home, many Portlanders do not visit downtown as frequently as they used to. The Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day helps to bring community together in a place that has been hit hard economically by COVID-19.
During the event, volunteers received heavy duty garbage bags, vinyl gloves, a safety vest, and a litter grabber before spreading out to clean the Rose City. Common items found include cigarette butts, disposable masks, and take-out containers. The cigarette butts collected at this event are recycled by Terracycle, and in-part due to the popularity of these events, SOLVE was able to reach more than half a million cigarette butts recycled with Terracycle.
The next Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day will be held on January 18, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anyone who is interested in joining SOLVE’s cleanup efforts should visit
www.solveoregon.org to learn more and get involved. Disposal for the Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days is donated by Central City Concern.
SOLVE, Portland Business Alliance, and Portland Lodging Alliance with the support of Ethos Commercial Advisors held their last Downtown Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day of 2020 on Friday.
More than 226 volunteers attended the event, and many brought warm clothing to donate to Transition Projects’ ‘Keep Portland Warm’ winter clothing drive, adding to the spirit of giving back. In total, more than 3,100 pounds of litter and debris was removed from city sidewalks, parks, and business fronts.
The totals from Friday add to the already impressive results from the last three Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days. With today’s event being the last of the year, SOLVE is happy to report that more than 1,200 volunteers have removed over 13,000 pounds of litter from downtown Portland since these monthly events began in early September.
The popularity of these events shows that Portlanders have a sincere pride in where they call home and are willing to come together as a community take care of it through the simple act of picking up litter. Volunteers who attended today’s event also were given “Here for Portland” stickers, a campaign that supports shopping small and local this holiday season. With so many people working from home, many Portlanders do not visit downtown as frequently as they used to. The Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day helps to bring community together in a place that has been hit hard economically by COVID-19.
During the event, volunteers received heavy duty garbage bags, vinyl gloves, a safety vest, and a litter grabber before spreading out to clean the Rose City. Common items found include cigarette butts, disposable masks, and take-out containers. The cigarette butts collected at this event are recycled by Terracycle, and in-part due to the popularity of these events, SOLVE was able to reach more than half a million cigarette butts recycled with Terracycle.
The next Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day will be held on January 18, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anyone who is interested in joining SOLVE’s cleanup efforts should visit
www.solveoregon.org to learn more and get involved. Disposal for the Downtown Portland Volunteer Litter Cleanup Days is donated by Central City Concern.
