The Butt Stops Here

Commit to recycling discarded cigarette butts and receive a free receptacle!

The data collected from Ocean City clean ups has continuously shown the number one item to be picked up is cigarette butts.

The Mayor & City Council took the first step to reduce cigarette butt litter in 2015 by making the Boardwalk smoke-free and creating designated smoking areas on the beach. Now, to further this progress, Ocean City Green Team members have found a collaborative way to add additional designated smoking receptacles on each block west of the Boardwalk and will begin recycling cigarette butts.

The Town of Ocean City and the Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) were awarded Worcester County Health Department grant funding for pilot programs to reduce second hand smoking exposure and improperly discarded cigarette butts. The town is using this funding to provide more receptacles that encourage these practices.

MCBP plans on using this funding to provide area businesses with free butt receptacles if they commit to promoting smoking only near these receptacles, which makes it easy to dispose of the butts in the receptacles. And, MCBP has just partnered with Keep American Beautiful (KAB) and will be receiving additional receptacles from KAB at no cost for the program. KAB receives $1 per pound of cigarette butts from Terracycle, an innovative recycling company that recycles cigarette butts.

For businesses to receive a free receptacle, not only must they agree to promote a smoking only area, they must also agree to either ship the butts to Terracycle, drop the butts off to a designated area at Town of Ocean City Public Works, which houses butts collected from town receptacles or bag the butts and contact MCBP to arrange for volunteers to collect the bags. These cigarette butts will be shipped to Terracycle to be recycled with the help of volunteers.

The volunteers are coming from a partnership with the Worcester County District Court Mandatory Community Service Program. If any of the court mandated community service hours recipients are smokers, the hope is if they bag a ton of cigarette butts, they may re-consider their smoking choice.

Download Your Pledge to Receive Cigarette Receptacles

Please submit your pledge to [email protected]