Are there more cigarette butts on New Jersey’s beaches than in decades past?
Some environmentalists say so. Citing data gleaned in part by Clean Ocean Action from its twice-yearly sweep of New Jersey beaches, today’s Star-Ledger reports that this summer’s beachgoers “may be more likely than ever to find something other than sand between their toes.”
The culprit? Smoking bans enacted by New Jersey and New York, the environmentalists believe.
From the article:
Those laws have sent smokers outside, where they are more likely to toss their butts onto the streets or sidewalks. Even if the litterbug is far inland, their tossed cigarette butt may wind up in the ocean or on the beach.
Rain washes them into storm drains, which empty into rivers, bays and eventually the ocean, where the butts are washed onto beaches by wind and tides.
“I don’t think people make the connection that what they’re doing on the streets of Newark or New York City can wind up in the ocean or on the beaches next to them,” said Anna Will, prevention coordinator with Clean Ocean Action, a Highlands environmental group. “People go outside and they don’t think twice about tossing their cigarettes on the ground.”
More:
In April 2006, the month New Jersey’s indoor smoking ban began, Clean Ocean Action’s volunteer beach cleanup collected 22,838 cigarette butts from New Jersey’s beaches — about 9,000 more than the previous year. With the law in effect for a full year in 2007, the total skyrocketed 38,019 butts.
By far, butts were the single most collected item during the cleanups, volunteers reported.
Although there have been similar peaks in the past, overall, statistics show that despite a dwindling population of smokers, the number of cigarette butts on the beaches is on the rise. Additionally, studies conducted in Australia and Virginia have shown a correlation between indoor smoking bans and a rise in cigarette litter…
A survey conducted in January of 1,000 smokers by Keep America Beautiful Inc. found that 35 percent said they toss five or more cigarette butts per pack to the ground.
Nearly all cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic-like substance. Over time, the filters break into smaller and smaller pieces, but are not biodegradable. Environmentalists say cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish and marine mammals who appear to have mistaken them for food.
One study found chemicals leached by the remnant tobacco and ashes are toxic to tiny organisms, including the water flea, a tiny crustacean that serves as an important food source for small fish.
“It’s not just that they’re ugly and costly to clean up,” said Kathleen Register, a former professor at Longwood University in Virginia and now executive director of Clean Virginia Waterways, who authored the study.
Clean Ocean Action and other anti-litter organizations recommend businesses place sand urns or other receptacles outside building entrances where smokers congregate to prevent littering.
Some towns, like Red Bank, have required receptacles outside downtown businesses so cigarette butts won’t be seen strewn all over the sidewalks. In other towns, the situation is much different.
In downtown Newark, for example, on a recent afternoon, smokers could be seen puffing away, then tossing their butts to the ground, despite receptacles being just a few feet away.
“I know it’s the wrong thing to do,” said Laurie Reilly of West Caldwell, after tossing her cigarette butt to the ground outside the offices of Prudential Insurance. “I was very annoyed — I was in a heated conversation. Usually, I really do use them,” she said, referring to the sand urn just a few steps away.
