On Aug. 28 the Capitola City Council will consider a ban on the sale of products that include tobacco filters to protect Soquel Creek, and the shoreline and ocean. If it’s approved, Capitola will be the final jurisdiction touching the ocean to do so, following the county and city of Santa Cruz. It would clinch the deal to reduce the single most pervasive item found in area beach cleanups and secure the ordinance’s implementation.
The worldwide plastic pollution problem is well known, as are its devastating consequences for habitats on land, at sea and even in the air we breathe. According to the UN Environment Program, 19 million to 23 million tons of plastic pollution find its way into Earth’s waterways each year. Janis Searls Jones, CEO of the Ocean Conservancy which coordinates the international coastal cleanup effort, said that in 2023, “nearly 470,000 volunteers across 97 countries picked up over 4,000 tons of trash and plastics.”
While this intervention prevents some pollution from entering our ocean, a large volume goes uncollected on land and finds its way seaward.
Coastal cleanups successfully prevent debris of all types from entering our waters — a tradition that locally goes back to the early days of Save Our Shores in the late 1970s. Over the decades since, cigarette butts have consistently been the most collected items on Santa Cruz’s riverways and beaches. Between 2013 and 2024, Save Our Shores volunteers alone collected 463,779 cigarette butts from beaches, open spaces and public areas in the Monterey Bay region. In Capitola, volunteers collected 15,238 cigarette butts over the same time period. According to a 2023 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study that used community science data, 24.5% of all litter collected on the shoreline of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary between 2017 and 2021 could be attributed to smoking.
Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, a non-biodegradable plastic that breaks into microplastics and bioaccumulates in marine organisms. They also leach chemicals such as lead, arsenic and nicotine into the environment, impacting the health of the ocean and its inhabitants along with vulnerable human populations, including youth. They are also a fire hazard, responsible for burning 88,898 acres in California since 1980.
Local governments, nonprofits and volunteers have stepped up to protect the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary by taking on the hard work and cost of beach cleanups. Time and again, the No. 1 item they find is cigarette filters. These filters aren’t just litter; they’re toxic plastics that leach chemicals into the ocean, onto our beaches and into places where kids and families gather. For youth who deserve safe and healthy places to learn, play and connect with the coast, this pollution is an unfair burden. Banning filtered tobacco products would help stop this problem at the source, protecting both our environment and the health of the next generation.
Some will say that a local ban won’t be effective because filtered tobacco products can be purchased elsewhere and consumed here. Cigarette butts on Capitola’s shoreline are likely transported there through storm drains, via Soquel Creek or are otherwise moved through the watershed and most probably were purchased and consumed locally. If Capitola’s ordinance is approved, then sales will be prohibited within both the city and county portions of the Soquel Creek watershed.
To make your voice heard, you may speak during the Thursday, Aug. 28, City Council meeting, starting at 4 p.m., or email the entire council at citycouncil@ci.capitola.ca.us.
If we’re successful, the result would be one small but significant step toward better health and a cleaner planet.
Katie Thompson and Tracey Weiss are executive directors of Save Our Shores and O’Neill Sea Odyssey and Dan Haifley is an ocean activist.
The Tobacco Endgame 
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