Santa Cruz County's first-of-its-kind ban on filtered cigarette sales aims to eliminate the area's most common beach trash items, reported the East Bay Times.
The county's Board of Supervisors approved the ban last year, limiting sales in unincorporated areas where half the county's population lives. Filtered cigarettes contain chemicals and microplastics that break down in the environment, affecting wildlife and human health.
Health care experts have testified that cigarette filters provide no health benefits and cause more harm by leading to deeper inhalations and more frequent puffs.
Katie Thompson, executive director of Save Our Shores, which has helped lead the "ban the butt" effort locally, sees this as just the beginning.
"Even at the county level, for it to be effective, we have to have not only the unincorporated county but all the city jurisdictions banning filtered tobacco products," explained Thompson.
The county ordinance includes a delayed enforcement date of January 2027, or until two other local jurisdictions pass similar prohibitions, whichever comes later.
Local advocates are using both political and cultural strategies to build support. They hosted a screening of "The Cigarette Surfboard," a documentary featuring boards made from cigarette butts collected from beaches.
Taylor Lane, the local surfer who designed the "ciggy boards," sees the project as more than art.
"We realized that this project was a vessel for the larger issue of addressing this global pollution," said Lane.
The movement faces challenges. Some worry about impacts on small retailers that rely on tobacco sales, which may create barriers for low-income residents.
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Heck yes! 💯 Mark Stone, a former county supervisor who championed a similar approach with plastic bags, believes the strategy makes sense.
"Taking an effort like this, that has proven to be controversial at the state, and bringing it down to local jurisdictions who understand what the value is and are not as tied up in the political constraints that the Legislature is, I think it's a viable strategy," said Stone.
"The tobacco industry was still spending millions of dollars targeted in the Legislature, which meant it was going to be very, very difficult to get anything through," Stone added.
Supporters hope the ban will follow the same path as Santa Cruz County's plastic bag ban in 2011, which inspired similar local measures before becoming state law.
As the movement builds momentum toward influencing state policy, Lane offers an encouraging call to action: "There's momentum, people. Are we going to do it, or are we going to get scared?"
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