Two Minutes of Your Time Can Earn You a Place To Stash Your Butts

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Do you or someone in your life smoke cigarettes?

The County’s Pollution Prevention Program is tasked with reducing cigarette waste’s harmful impact on our environment.

Some years ago, cars 🚗 usually came with an ashtray built into the vehicle, but with smoking rates on the decline, most newer cars no longer come with a built-in ashtray.

Similarly, with fewer people who smoke and more restrictions on where it’s legal to smoke, it’s not as easy as it once was to find a receptacle within eyesightsmoke.  

So, what’s someone who smokes supposed to do with the butt of their cigarette when on the road or out and about?

Use a free pocket ashtray. It snaps shut, contains odor, has a cute otter 🦦 image on it, and… surprise! It will fit in your pocket or purse.

Take a 2-minute survey and we’ll mail you a free pocket ashtray. To be eligible, you must be a San Mateo County resident who smokes.

Our Program cares about our environment, and your health – spring into action even if you don’t need a pocket ashtray to stow away butts. Visit smchealth.org/notobacco for resources to help you or a loved one quit smoking 🚭.

Coastal Cleanup 2022 – Calling All Volunteers!

Get your reusable gloves 🧤, buckets, and water bottles 💧 ready! There are two ways to participate in the annual litter cleanup event this September:

1. Join the main event on Saturday, September 17^th from 9 a.m. to noon – San Mateo County is hosting over 50 cleanup sites led by site captains with thousands of volunteers gathering in groups to remove litter before it breaks up into smaller pieces, injures wildlife, or ends up in our waterways 🌊.
   
2. Cleanup all month–long – can’t join the main event? You can still make a difference right outside your doorsteps 🚪. Gather your family and friends, go solo, or bring fido 🐕‍🦺, and pick up litter in your neighborhood throughout September.

If you are looking for an opportunity to help beautify and protect your community, and be inspired by fellow volunteers, register today at smchealth.org/ccd to find a location near you.

Cigarette Butts Recycled into a Bench

The local nonprofit Pacific Beach Coalition has picked up over 1 million littered cigarette butts since 2013. These cigarette butts have been recycled into a park bench located at Mussel Rock Park in Daly City – newly installed in January 2022.

How is a bench made out of cigarette butts? Pacific Beach Coalition sends all their butts to TerraCycle’s Cigarette Waste Recycling Program. The butts are processed –  the synthetic part of the butt gets melted down, turned into a powder, and mixed into recycled plastic lumber. This lumber can be turned into fencing, decks, benches, and more.

Join Pacific Beach Coalition for their monthly Mussel Rock cleanup where you can rest your butt on a bench made out of butts after you’re done.

For more litter cleanup event options, and resources for residents and businesses looking to get involved in extinguishing cigarette butt litter in the County, visit smchealth.org/cigbutts.  

Butts in the Bay or on the Beach Bugging You?

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Cigarette butts are made of plastic and do not biodegrade.

Cigarette butts that are dropped or flicked away as litter can easily be blown or washed into storm drains that lead directly into waterways without filtration.

Be a Cigarette Butt Litter Leader:

1. Request and give FREE pocket and auto ashtrays to friends and family who smoke to remind them to bin their butts. Email pollutionprevention@smcgov.org or call/text (650) 388-2646 to request one today.
   
2. Help pick up these tiny, toxic pieces of litter by participating in litter cleanup events, like Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 18, 2021! Visit smchealth.org/ccd for more information.
   
3. Call, text, or email us if you see a cigarette butt litter hot spot area in need of some attention.

For more information on cigarette butt litter reduction in San Mateo County visit smchealth.org/cigbutts.