HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTT

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The Hold On To Your Butt program launched in 2022 in Delaware to reduce the amount of cigarette waste on our beaches and in our waterways.  The project is led by the Delaware Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation in partnership with Plastic Free Delaware and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.  

Cigarette butts are the top item collected during Delaware beach and coastal cleanups. 

• Last year the Surfrider Foundation Delaware Chapter alone removed 5,000 butts from state park beaches, 4% of the entire national total! 
• Cigarette butts are not biodegradable nor compostable.  They are made of plastic - plasticized cellulose acetate.  Cigarette filters discarded in the environment break down into smaller pieces over the course of many years while doing tremendous damage to the world's oceans, wildlife and even putting microplastics into the human food chain. 
• They are unpleasing to see, detract from tourism and sense of community, and damage our beach ecology.  

Help us remove cigarette butts from our beaches Use cigarette butt collection canisters at state park beaches Use a pocket ashtray or similar item to hold your butts until you can dispose of them correctly. 

Many people believe the butts are made from natural materials that will break down naturally in the environment. When in fact the butt of a cigarette is made of plastic material – cellulose acetate. When not discarded properly the butts get washed into the ocean where they break down into microparticles and are consumed by the shellfish and fish we eat as well as pollute the water with toxic microplastics and the toxins collected from smoking the cigarette.