Beach groups declare war on cigarette butts (From The Argus)

Beach groups declare war on cigarette butts

8:31am Friday 29th June 2007 in News By Lee Gibbs

A bid to persuade smokers to keep the country's beaches "butt free" gets under way today.

The Marine Conservation Society, Surfers Against Sewage and British Naturism will team up on Brighton naturist beach to promote the "No Butts on the Beach" message.

The MSC said it has seen a general increase in smoking related litter on the UK's beaches.

Now with the changes to smoking restrictions and a move outdoors, the fear is that this trend will continue.

During the MCS Beachwatch 2006, a total of 15,782 cigarette ends were found on 358 beaches around the UK, representing 4.2 per cent of the total litter found and the eighth most common item.

That's an average of 84.1 cigarette ends found for each kilometre of beach surveyed.

In an annual global survey, cigarette butts have been the number one item found for 17 years running and in September 2006, over 1.9 million butts were recorded from beaches around the world.

Emma Snowden, MCS litter projects co-ordinator, said: "Trillions of cigarette butts enter the water environment every year with potentially devastating effects on marine wildlife.

"Cigarette butts are not biodegradable as the filters are made of a type of plastic and so persist for many years. They have been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, sea birds, fish and turtles where they can leach toxic chemicals."

Richard Hardy, SAS campaigns director, said: "Cigarette butts, while small in size, are a big environmental threat.

"With more smokers having to smoke outside it's vitally important that cigarette butts are disposed of properly or we can expect more of them finding their way on to beaches throughout the UK."

Cigarettes found on the beach and in the marine environment do not all come from beach users dropping them on the beach - instead butts discarded in car parks, along pavements and in street gutters miles from the coast are washed into storm drains, streams and rivers and can eventually end up on beaches and in the seas.

Cigarette filters are not, as is commonly thought, made of paper but cellulose acetate, a type of plastic and can persist in the environment for many years.

Estimates of the time it takes for a cigarette filter to degrade at sea vary from 12 to 15 years.

Cigarette ends are also easily mistaken for food by marine animals. They have been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, sea birds, fish and turtles where they can leach toxic chemicals, cause inflammation of the animal's digestive system and occasionally (if they cause a blockage of the gut) even death.

Cigarette filters, designed to absorb tar and chemicals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic, leach these chemicals into the water when the filter reaches the sea. Experiments have shown that just one cigarette filter is toxic enough to kill water fleas in eight litres of water.

Among the messages the campaign wants to get over are: :: Smokers can avoid littering the street or beach by taking a portable ashtray butt bin when they go outdoors.

:: Encourage hotels, shopping centre bars, restaurants and other businesses to place cigarette bins outdoors.

Surfers Against Sewage is also calling on beachside bars and restaurants to make a "No Butts on the Beach" pledge to ensure cigarette butts from customers now having to smoke outside do not fall on to the sand but into a dedicated bin for cigarettes.

More than 60 have already made the pledge, which can be seen on www.sas.org.uk.

Members of the public can also take part in the MCS's Adopt-a-Beach and Beachwatch projects to help clean and survey beach litter and identify the sources and whether cigarette ends are a problem on a beach.