Butts on our Beaches

Does anyone really care to see your butts on our beaches?

We are of course referring to cigarette butts. This Saturday we once again joined Surfrider Newport Beach Chapter at their regular Huntington beach clean up ( 4Th Saturday morning of every month from 8-12). We picked up many polystyrene coffee cups and broken plastic lids, just as we did last month. This month however we were made aware of the literally thousands of cigarette butts on the beach. So many that we could hardly make a dent ourselves in an hour picking them up.

Many of the beaches in California are designated Smoke-Free beaches. You can find a list of all smoke-free beaches on the Earth Resources Foundation Website. Huntington Beach (the site of the beach clean up) is on this list and we did not expect to find all these butts. Of course recent rains in Southern California have meant that our streets and gutters have been cleared out and the water has flowed down to the ocean via the watershed, bringing with it the disposed of butts and much more.

Most cigarette butts are made from cellulose acetate and are not biodegradable, only breaking apart over a long period of time, depending on conditions. This time frame can be up to 15 years. The butts therefore cause an unsightly environmental problem for many years before they break up.

The butts are also the filters for the cigarettes themselves and therefore contain the left over chemicals from the cigarette. Once they come into contact with water, the butts begin leaching these chemicals, which include cadmium, lead, formaldehyde and arsenic into the water. The butts make their way down through the watershed and end up polluting our oceans and inside the intestines and stomachs of fish, whales, dolphins, birds and the other numerous marine animals.

If you are a smoker, understand that your cigarette butts do not biodegrade and only break apart over a long period of time. They will cause numerous environmental problems. So hold on to your butts. Instead of throwing your butt out on the street or into the gutter, pick up a BUTTsOUT personal ashtray, check out http://www.buttsout.net/buttsout , or you can get them at one of the Surfrider beach cleanups.

For us non smokers, let your smoking friends know that their butts end up on our beaches and tell them what they can do about it. Join in at beach cleanups and don't be afraid to pick up the butts. At most beach cleanups gloves are supplied, so there is no need to touch them with your hands.

One way you can help reduce this type of waste on the beaches is to send a message to your State Assemblyperson and Senator through Surfrider Foundation's Action Network: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/hotyb?rk=D7s41uFqBOJeE

Last week Dudley and Melanie were on the Island of Tonga which is in the South Pacific. This is a small country made up of many coral islands. There are no rivers or lakes on the main island of Tongatapu and the only fresh water is rain water, which is collected and stored. On small islands such as these sustainability is very important to a healthy human population. All items must be reused as much as possible. While on the island we visited a local coffee shop to sample the Tongan brew. There are no disposable coffee cups sold here, so we happily enjoyed our drinks in the glass mugs they provided.

Of course there is no reason why we as Americans and Canadians cannot do the same as the Tongans and reuse our coffee mugs and many other things too. Sustainability is important for all countries. We all need to reduce our impact on the environment in whatever way we can.

Start with your coffee mug. Remember to always bring your own when you visit a coffee shop. If you would like to create a personalized coffee mug, you can go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and pick one up there. And if you enjoy a smoke with your cup of coffee, remember to hold onto your butts when you are done with the cigarette.

Have a great week.