Surfrider Volunteers Install & Refurbish Ashcans in Pacific Beach to Combat Cigarette Litter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE 09/26/14

Contacts: James Marvel, Patrick McDuffie
Hold On To Your Butt Co-Chairs, Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter
E-Mail: james@surfridersd.org, patrick@surfridersd.org
Phone: (781) 708-2644, (760) 815-7671
Website: www.surfridersd.org

Surfrider Volunteers Install & Refurbish Ashcans in Pacific Beach to Combat Cigarette Litter

SAN DIEGO, CA - On September 28, 2014 from 9am – 12:30pm, the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter's Hold On To Your Butt (HOTYB) committee will be revitalizing their ashcans in Pacific Beach, replacing dilapidated stickers, and installing new ashcans.  HOTYB volunteers, along with our partners I Love A Clean San Diego and Discover PB, will hit the streets to replace eight older ashcans and install fourteen new ones.  They will also be cleaning up cigarette butts at the installation locations.

Volunteers will meet at Discover PB, 1503 Garnet Avenue, at 9am.  The event will be followed by an after party at Fred’s Mexican Café, 1165 Garnet Avenue.

“Cigarette butts and other tobacco product waste are the most commonly found items during urban and beach cleanups worldwide,” according to San Diego State University Public Health Professor Thomas Novotny and researcher Elli Slaughter in a recent article published in Current Environmental Health Reports.  “An estimated 4.5 trillion of the 6 trillion cigarettes sold annually worldwide do not end up in a dustbin or ashtray, but are simply flicked away along a roadside or on a pavement.”

This type of litter is not just found on streets and in urban settings; the number of cigarette butts found on beaches and nearby areas is overwhelming, accounting for approximately 40% of the items collected during the Surfrider Foundation’s monthly public beach cleanups.  Cigarette waste discarded miles inland compounds the problem as it can end up in drains that flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons, and ultimately the ocean.

This installation will help the HOTYB committee reach its goal of installing the 200th ashcan in San Diego County.  The organization has seen a 65% decrease in cigarette butt litter where ashcans have been installed.

More information about the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter and the Hold On To Your Butt program can be found at https://sandiego.surfrider.org/campaigns/hold-on-to-your-butt.  Please direct any questions about the Pacific Beach Ashcan Revitalization Project to hotyb@surfridersd.org.

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