Our annual Butt Blitz is back. We’re calling on all Earth Heroes to collect as many cigarette filters as possible from September 15 until October 31 before the winter rains wash them out to sea. Gotta catch ’em all!

Why should I collect cigarette butts?

Cigarette filters are the number one littered item in the world. In fact, approximately 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered globally. They contain highly toxic chemicals and microplastics that pollute the ocean and its inhabitants. Since 2014, PBC has collected more than 2.3 million cigarette filters. Cigarette filters may be small but your participation makes a big difference.

Make it count. Four different (and fun!) ways to participate:

• Join an organized PBC cleanup. We host 13 cleanup events every month, and Coastal Cleanup Day is on September 20, 2025. Follow the link to check out our calendar.
• Collect butts on your own and then follow the link to log your results on the Butt Blitz Form. (Or scroll to the bottom of this page to enter your results.)
• Collect butts on your own and record your results on the Clean Swell app. Be sure to include PBC or Pacific Beach Coalition as the group name so everyone gets credit.
• Bring butts to a cleanup to be added to the count and recycled.

Drop your cigarette butts off at one of these convenient locations.

If you collect cigarette butts outside of an organized PBC cleanup, be sure to drop them off at one of our monthly cleanup events. We’ll send them to our partners at TerraCycle to be recycled into items such as outdoor benches and picnic tables for parks.

Log results from your self-guided cigarette butt cleanup.

You don’t have to join a PBC cleanup to participate in Butt Blitz. Simply collect cigarette filters from an area that needs to be cleaned and let us know how many you collected in this form.

Thank you for being an Earth Hero and picking up cigarette butts.

Your support and participation help us sustain our important mission. We couldn’t do it without you.