NO BUTTS ABOUT IT; TOSSING CIGS CAUSES HARM

PLASTIC IS DRASTIC, SAYS KEY WEST CLEANUP CREW

AMY PATTON www.keysweekly.com

Question: What’s (by far) the largest source of plastic litter found on Key West’s beaches and streets? If you answered bottles, grocery bags or straws, you’d be wrong.

Truth is, the thousands of pounds of tossed cigarette butts collected each year by city volunteers who affectionately dub themselves “Ploggers” hold a secret: The filters in these smoking materials, specifically in commercial brands like Newports, Marlboros and others, are lined with “micro-polymers;” also known as cellulose acetate.

The oft-discarded gunk tossed by pedestrians on walkways and in waterways is better known by most folks as plain old plastic.

“People are inhaling this stuff,” Kimmie Hellman exclaimed during one of the volunteer cleanups that takes place every Friday morning from 8 to 9 a.m. in a particular island neighborhood. This cleanup happened to be on the north end of Simonton Street.

Hellman is one of dozens of people who collect tossed butts and other debris across the island every week. When asked why she takes the time to do the work, she gave a simple explanation. ”I want to help my community,” said the Plogger.

The effort pulls in visitors, too, like Alison Blenkinsopp, a part-time resident of Key West.

“I do the same thing at home,” she said of her other community in England. “But this is far more organized. I want to help keep this place beautiful and special.”

Dorian Patton, the city of Key West’s special projects manager who helms the program, said the environmental consequences of this careless habit are undeniable. Patton wants smokers to understand the impact that discarding the stubs has on the local ecology. “The cigarette butts wash into the drains here and then eventually make their way to the ocean,” Patton said. “Then the turtles and fish end up eating all those chemicals and tiny plastic pieces.”

According to a report last year by National Geographic, the trash problem is a global one. A staggering 18 billion smokes are consumed worldwide every day. That means trillions per year — only a third of the butts make it into the trash — are left to linger on