Ocean Wise Canada, a conservation group that works to clean and protect the world’s oceans, has released their 2022 Dirty Dozen list.
“Each year, Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanup identifies the 12 most found items on Canada’s freshwater and marine shorelines,” they stated.
Topping the list for 2022 was the 164,995 cigarette butts that were cleaned up by volunteers on Canadian shorelines.
Why are cigarette butts bad for the ocean? Cigarettes, when wet, can leach toxic chemicals, such as lead and arsenic, into the environment, contaminating water and harming animals and, potentially, the food chain. Rather than toss your cigarette onto the beach or into the water, Ocean Wise advises smokers to place cigarette butts in a can and dispose of it in the trash. Or they can ship it to Terracycle’s free UNSMOKE Cigarette Waste Recycling Program. https://www.terracycle.com
Surfrider Foundation volunteers have launched the Hold On To Your Butt program to encourage recycling of cigarette waste in Tofino and Ucluelet. They set up several drop-off locations in both communities. Surfrider volunteers collect the waste once a month and ship it to Terracycle where it is recycled into plastic plywood.
Individuals can collect their own cigarette waste including cigar/cigarette butts, inner foil liners and ash for recycling. Outer cardboard packaging can go in your municipality’s blue bin for recycling. The materials should be stored in a sturdy container and shipped to Terracycle. Shipping labels can be printed from the website.
According to Surfrider, the Hold On To Your Butt Program has recycled 1.4 million cigarette butts between Tofino and Ucluelet in partnership with TerraCycle Canada since 2017.
The District of Tofino has been a leader in taking reusable plastics out of circulation with their ban on plastic shopping bags, eating utensils and drinking straws. And now, the village has set their sights on banning disposable plastic beverage bottles.
Plastic bottles placed 9th on the 2022 Dirty Dozen list with 13,388 bottles picked up in 2022. Plastic bags and straws placed 10th and 12th, respectively.
Surfrider Foundation has taken the lead with their Take Back the Tap program, with the goal of banning all single-use one-litre and smaller water bottles from the Pacific Rim.
Tofino’s fresh water is sourced from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation’s Tribal Park where it is filtered, then pours freely from the taps. The Take Back the Tap campaign encourages businesses refill their customer’s reusable water bottles rather than sell bottled water.
Local businesses are getting on board with the campaign. Rather than bottled water, they offer water from the tap, fountain or dispenser. Water dispensers have been installed around Tofino and Ucluelet.
Surfrider plans to lobby local districts to add single-use water bottles to the Single-Use Plastic Regulation.
