Virginia Beach Aquarium Adds Cigarette Butt Recycling to E-Cycling Event

The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center included cigarette recycling for the first time at a recent Virginia Beach e-cycling event, WHRO reported, even though no butts arrived that day.

Sustainability coordinator Tracey Gauthier said the aquarium already fills a bag each month from parking lots, waterfronts and boat ramps and wants residents to know recycling is an option. Butts contain plastic cellulose acetate that can harm aquatic life when they wash through storm drains.

TerraCycle, which partners with Keep America Beautiful and uses tobacco-company funding, says it has taken in more than 4.3 million butts from Virginia over about a decade, including 664,000 from Hampton Roads, mostly in the past three years. Plastics are pelletized for products such as outdoor furniture and tool handles.

Keep Virginia Beautiful's fall LOVE VA campaign includes a Great Butt Roundup, and askHRgreen.org offers free receptacles for businesses. Clean Virginia Waterways notes butts remain common at beach cleanups despite past Oceanfront prevention programs.

Virginia Beach City Council:
Robert Dyer, mayorsoffice@vbgov.com,
Michael Berlucchi, mberlucc@vbgov.com,
Stacy Cummings, stcummings@vbgov.com,
Barbara Henley, bhenley@vbgov.com,
David Hutcheson, dhutcheson@vbgov.com,
Cal Jackson-Green, cjacksongreen@vbgov.com,
Robert Remick, wremick@vbgov.com,
Amelia Ross-Hammond, arosshammond@vbgov.com,
Jennifer Rouse, jvrouse@vbgov.com,
Joashua Schulman, jschulman@vbgov.com,
Rosemary Wilson, rcwilson@vbgov.com,
Group email: CityCouncil@vbgov.com,

Virginia Beach School Board:
Kathleen Brown, Kathleen.Brown@vbcpsboard.com,
Carolyn Weems, Carolyn.Weems@vbcpsboard.com,
Mark Bohenstiel, Mark.Bohenstiel@vbcpsboard.com,
Michael Callan, Michael.Callan@vbcpsboard.com,
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