Hold On To Your Butt; "Butts off beaches":

The Australian Surfrider Foundation has praised the decision of two Sydney council’s in banning cigarette smoking on beaches and has called for similar bans Australia wide.

The foundation has been lobbying for several years and has been promoting their Hold on to Your Butt campaign under the Respect the Beach program since 1998.

Surfrider Foundation General Manager, Mr. Stuart Ball says Surfrider’s aim is to educate the public of the damage they do to the environment, particularly the waterways, as a result of carelessly discarding cigarette butts.

“Our campaign is aimed at educating smokers that their discarded cigarette butts are not only a major eye sore, but a serious pollution problem as well,” said Mr. Ball.

Seven million toxic butts are disposed of inappropriately every year and many have been found in the stomachs of young birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.

"We aren't insisting smokers give up their habit, although of course this is the most positive solution, only that they dispose of their rubbish responsibly rather than on the street or beach," Mr. Ball went on to say, “ … surfers, swimmers and other beach users are 'drowning' in butts, and when smokers discard their cigarette butts onto our streets, with the present storm drain system, our beaches become the eventual resting place for these thousands of little pieces of garbage.”

“People assume that when the butts go into the storm drain, they are intercepted by a sewer system and sadly, this is not the case.”

The Surfrider Foundation has been distributing stickers, newsletters and Hold On To Your Butts containers in the hopes of reducing the amount of cigarette butts found on our beaches and plans to continue its campaign until beaches become butt free.

There will be no 'butts' about it.