Volunteers Clean Up 11,000 Cigarette Butts At Esquimalt Lagoon

There was an epic turnout and positive impact on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at the Esquimalt Lagoon beach cleanup with Surfrider Vancouver Island. 123 volunteers picked up 555 lbs of debris off the beach! This included over 30 straws, several buckets of cans and bottles, and over 11,000 cigarette butts!!!!

Esquimalt Lagoon, located on Vancouver Island within in the traditional territories of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, is a Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This important area for waterfowl in particular is also used heavily in terms of recreation activities and sees a lot of foot and vehicle traffic.

Cigarette butts are frequently the number one thing found at Surfrider Foundation beach cleanups, and are indeed the number one litter item found on beaches worldwide. This is bad news, as cigarette butts are highly toxic, do not biodegrade, and each contaminate one cubic metre of ocean water with nicotine and other toxins! Do us all a favour, and keep your butts (and other trash!) off the beach!