Hold On To Your Butt Awareness Day is August 9

Local Surfrider Foundation Chapter Taking the Cigarette Litter Issue to the Streets!

SAN DIEGO, July 28, 2008 – In an effort to raise awareness of the cigarette butt litter problem and reduce the amount of cigarette butt litter, the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter will be conductingHold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day on Saturday, August 9th from 10 a.m. to Noon at five locations in San Diego County.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world.  This type of litter is not just found in streets and urban settings; the number of cigarette butts found on beaches is overwhelming--typically accounting for nearly one in every five  items collected during a beach cleanup.  To make matters worse, butts are often cast onto the sidewalk and streets, and then end up in drains, which flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean.

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day will involve activists, volunteers, and friends of the environment gathering on San Diego's busiest traffic intersections as people arrive at the beach. There, Surfrider activists will hold signs, pass out personal ashtrays, stickers and graphically demonstrate to motorists the problem we're so concerned about.  We will encourage motorists and beachgoers to dispose of cigarettes safely, and explain that cigarette butts thrown on the ground can eventually end up in the ocean and affect marine life, including surfers and swimmers.

Surfrider activists will be at these intersections from 10 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, August 9:

• Belmont Park in Mission Beach (Intersection of Ventura and Mission)
• IB (Intersection of Palm Ave. and 7^th Ave.)
• Carlsbad (Intersection of Carlsbad Blvd. and Tamarack Ave.)
• Oceanside (Intersection of Pier View Way and Coast Highway/101)

These are frequently a couple of the dirtiest and most backed-up intersections in the county, and ideal for getting out our message to Hold On To Your Butt!           

In addition, this year the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority will get in on the act.  Airport Authority employees and checkpoint assistants at San Diego International Airport will spend four hours on Saturday, August 9 in the airport’s terminals handing out “personal cigarette ashtrays,” HOTYB bumper stickers and information cards to airport visitors wanting them. 

More information about the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter  can be found at www.surfriderSD.org or by calling (858) 792-9940.