Ban the Butt aims to eliminate the negative effects of cigarette butt pollution to the marine environment by ending the production, use, and sale of single-use plastic cigarette filters (aka butts) in San Diego County and beyond.
Butts are the Top Item Found at Beach Cleanups
Cigarette buts are the most littered item in the world. In San Diego County, butts accounted for one in every five items collected at our 2019 beach cleanups. They are the top item found at our beach cleanups, a position they’ve held every year since we started collecting data in 2007. Often littered on our sidewalks and streets, they end up in our storm drains, flowing to our streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean.

Despite a smoking ban on all beaches countywide, numerous anti-cigarette litter campaigns (including our chapter’s own Hold Onto Your Butt program) and a dramatic decline in smoking’s popularity in California over the last 20 years, butts persist as the #1 item found at beach, roadside and neighborhood cleanups in San Diego County. It is time to move beyond the “don’t litter” mentality and attack this problem at its source. Disposable cigarette filters are inherently wasteful by design, and must be stopped.
Ban the Butt
Currently, our efforts revolve around supporting CA Senate Bill 424, the Tobacco Product Recyclability and Producer Responsibility Act. If passed, SB 424 would effectively ban the sale of single-use cigarette filters in our state. This bill passed the Senate Floor in May 2019 and was referred to the California State Assembly, where it must pass the committee approval process before reaching the floor for a vote. In previous legislative sessions, similar bills have died in committee.
Should this bill fail to pass during the 2020 legislative season, we will pursue efforts to pass a similar ordinance locally.
Hold On To Your Butt
Surfrider has actively campaigned against cigarette butt pollution since at least 1992, the year we launched the Hold On To Your Butt (HOTYB) program. HOTYB volunteers have installed 200+ cigarette butt receptacles in high traffic areas all over the county, distributed thousands of “pocket ashtrays” to smokers, and held annual Hold Onto Your Butt awareness days.
Along with our Beach Cleanups, the HOTYB program has prevented hundreds of thousands of cigarette butts from entering our ocean, waves and beaches. However, the evidence is clear that these efforts alone are insufficient to deal with such a widespread problem.
It’s time to stop treating cigarette butts as a “litter issue” and hold tobacco producers accountable for the billions of toxic, single-use plastic filters they’re putting into our markets and environment every year. It’s time to Ban the Butt!

Cigarette Butts Are Not Litter... They're Toxic Waste
Toxic Plastic
Harmful to Humans
Recent Posts

The Butt Smackdown – An Action Alert
https://youtu.be/eBDaWlHUGmA Sign Our Action Alert! Did you know that cigarette butts account for 1 of every 4 items found at our beach cleanups? It’s not

We Support SB-424 to “Ban the Butt” in CA
Did you know that cigarette butts account for 1 of every 4 items found at our beach cleanups? It’s not uncommon for Surfrider volunteers to

Surfrider Volunteers Remove 1,493 Pounds of Trash from San Diego Beaches After 4th of July Holiday
Results from Surfrider’s Annual “Morning After Mess” Beach Cleanup Over 525 volunteers gathered at four popular beaches this morning to assist with the Surfrider Foundation

15th Annual Hold On To Your Butt Awareness Day!
On Saturday, September 16th from 9am-12pm, Surfrider San Diego will have its 15th Annual Hold On To Your Butt Awareness Day at Belmont Park!

Beach Meets the Streets Cleanup
Join the Hold On To Your Butt Committee and SD Coastkeeper for a cleanup of the beach and streets on Saturday June 24th!

Surfrider Goes to Sacramento
Doug Karpa (Turtle Island Restoration Network), Madeline Kinsey (CA Sea Grant), Diane Castaneda (Wildcoast), and Mitch Silverstein (Surfrider SD) thank Senator Richard Roth (D31 –