On Saturday, cigarette butts joined the list of items locals can recycle through an e-cycling event the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center hosts twice a year in Virginia Beach.
People brought old televisions, electronics and more, but no butts.
Tracey Gauthier, the aquarium's sustainability coordinator, hopes people will become more aware that recycling cigarette waste is an option for future events.
Cigarette butts, which contain plastic, are the most commonly littered item in Virginia and beyond. The aquarium recycles the butts gathered on its grounds. It adds up.
“We usually fill an entire bag every month just from people that have discarded them in our parking lots and along the water and at the boat ramps,” Gauthier said.
The aquarium recycles through TerraCycle, which uses funding from a tobacco company for its program. TerraCycle recycles plastic in cigarette filters for uses such as outdoor furniture and handles for tools, according to Eric Ascalon, the company’s global director of community affairs.
Its program deals with cellulose acetate, a plastic that can affect aquatic species when it enters waterways through storm drains and runoff, he said.
Over about a decade, TerraCycle has taken in more than 4.3 million cigarette butts collected from Virginia, including 664,000 from the Hampton Roads region. The bulk of that has come in over the past three years, Ascalon said.
“Unfortunately, the vast majority of cigarettes that are smoked are not disposed of properly,” he said. “They're tossed out of car windows, thrown onto sidewalks, thrown onto beaches and so forth. And we wanted to help kind of incentivize their proper cleanup.”
The company partners with Keep America Beautiful, businesses and military commands. Individuals can sign up for free shipping to recyle butts they collect.
The butts are tied up or sealed in a trash bag, shipped in a cardboard box using the label. The company separates organic matter for compost and plastics are turned into powder and pelletized for use.
Several organizations, such as Keep Virginia Beautiful, Keep Norfolk Beautiful and the city of Virginia Beach, have set up recycling containers, which has decreased litter.
Christina Trapani, executive director of Clean Virginia Waterways in Virginia Beach, participates in an international clean-up, often in the fall.
In 2015, the organization operated a cigarette litter prevention program that included recycling at the Oceanfront, working with hotels and others to collect cigarette waste. That program lasted for three years and they saw a decrease in the number of cigarette butts on the beach.
Local organizations have several different awareness and litter prevention programs, but cigarette waste is still regularly picked up during cleanups.
“We were at the Super Girl Surf Festival last weekend, and we had two little girls come up to our table looking around,” Trapani said. “They’re like, ‘We just picked up 230 cigarette butts this morning.’”
Keep Virginia Beautiful’s fall campaign, "LOVE VA," lasts through November and includes “The Great Butt Roundup,” a cleanup competition in which groups can gather cigarette waste, report the numbers and recycle the butts.
Local businesses can also apply for a free cigarette waste receptacle through an askHRgreen.org grant program, according to Katie Cullipher, communications director for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
