The San Diego County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation held demonstrations last Thursday, Aug. 17, the same day that the smoking ban at all city beaches and parks went go into effect. The high-profile move was part of the group’s sixth annual “Hold On To Your Butt” Day, which aims to educate smokers and encourage them to properly dispose of their cigarette waste.
The evening demonstrations consisted of activists holding informational signs, handing out bumper stickers, literature and pocket ashtrays, and a street sweep during which volunteers swept cigarette butts out of the gutters.
“Hold On To Your Butt” Day is part of the foundation’s 12-year-old campaign of the same name, which was established to raise awareness of the problem of cigarette litter.
The campaign originated with the San Diego Surfrider chapter and grew to international proportions under the larger foundation’s guidance.
“Our goal is to educate smokers about disposing of their cigarette butts properly,” said Stephanie Sekich, vice chair of the San Diego County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. “We want to inform people that cigarette butts are not biodegradable.”
Cigarette butts, or filters, actually contain a type of plastic that gets smaller and smaller as it degrades, but never disappears completely, she explained.
“We also want to convince tobacco companies to use less packaging, and we’re working with businesses and government agencies to provide more disposal mechanisms such as ashtrays and signs,” Sekich said.
Aug. 17 also marked the unveiling of 30 large ashtrays that the foundation placed along Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. The ashtrays are self-contained, rustproof stainless steel.
With the implementation of the smoking ban, the foundation is trying to stay positive, said Sekich, though there are concerns that cigarette litter will merely move from the beaches to the streets.
“We hope that people remember that there is a smoking ban, and while they are getting kicked off the beach and walking down Newport Avenue, they see all the brand-new ashtrays there for them to use,” Sekich continued.
She said the heart of the problem comes from a misconception that cigarette butts are not litter.
“A lot of smokers just don’t view it as litter, and unfortunately that has been ingrained in our society for decades now,” she said.
Cigarette butts are not the only problem, though. All the accessories that go along with smoking, including lighters, wrappers, cartons and matches, have also become litter.
“We have all these gross pictures of the inside of seagulls’ stomachs full of lighters and cigarette butts,” Sekich said.
With all the focus on cigarettes, Sekich stressed that the foundation’s goal is to keep the streets, beaches and ocean clean, not to convince smokers to stop smoking.
“We’re not against smokers and we don’t advocate smoking,” Sekich said. “We just want to help smokers dispose of their cigarette butts properly.”
If the pilot outdoor ashtray program is successful in Ocean Beach, the foundation plans to expand it to other beaches in the county.
For information on the Surfrider Foundation and the “Hold On To Your Butt” Day and campaign, visit www.surfridersd.org.