Butt challenge aims to show dirty effect on ocean health

How many cigarette butts can you collect in one hour?

The Great Ciggy Butt Challenge has been laid down by environmental group Tasman Bay Guardians, to raise awareness about just how bad cigarette butts are for our oceans’ health.

Entrants will be challenged to pick up as many butts as possible in one hour on September 15 in an effort to ‘‘break the buttchucking culture’’. The competition will run during Conservation Week.

Guardians director Stew Robertson said rubbish from cigarettes was unique. Often, people who smoked wouldn’t consider throwing any other type of rubbish away, ‘‘yet they do throw their butts’’.

‘‘As a result, butts are everywhere on the beaches and in the ocean. I’ve seen cigarette butts at 25m depth when I’ve been diving.’’

Tasman Bay Guardians surveys coastal sites around Tasman Bay for litter every three months as part of a national programme called Litter Intelligence.

On a small area of Tahunanui Beach alone, the group found 331 cigarette butts, prompting the idea for the competition, Robertson said.

Single-use plastic bags and straws are often named as the main culprits in marine pollution. However, marine protection organisation Ocean Conservancy reported last year that cigarette butts were the largest man-made contaminant in the oceans. This year, Maori Public Health also said ‘‘New Zealand’s cigarettes are now the largest source of plastic waste in our ocean’’.

Tasman Bay Guardians this year began Drains to Harbour, a stormwater education programme in partnership with the Nelson City Council. ‘‘A lot of people just don’t know how the cigarette butts they drop go into stormwater drains and nearly always end up in the ocean,’’ Robertson said.

To take part in the challenge, cigarette butts can be picked up from anywhere in the region, including streets, parks and beaches. Contestants need to send a photo of the butts they have collected, along with the total number, to tasmanbayguardians.org.nz. The person who collects the most butts between 10am and 11am will win a boat trip for two with Abel Tasman Eco Tours.

As part of its Conservation Week efforts, Tasman Bay Guardians has also teamed up with companies operating in Abel Tasman National Park to organise a beach clean-up along the park’s coastline.

‘‘Butts are everywhere on the beaches and in the ocean.’’

Stew Robertson, Tasman Bay Guardians