Surfrider Donates Cigarette Disposal Containers to City

Hermosa Beach became the first South Bay city to agree to and receive cigarette disposal containers for the beach and beach area, said Craig Cadwallader, chair of the South Bay Chapter of Surfrider at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Cadwallader proudly held one aloft so the cylindrical stainless steel, powder-coated container could be seen. He said 20 had been donated to the city. The South Bay chapter raised the money to pay for the containers via memberships, donations and past fundraising efforts, he said. The city will install the containers near designated smoking areas and non-smoking areas on Pier Plaza, around the city's beachside parking lots and on Pier Avenue.

"The receptacles are simply devices for smokers to dispose of cigarette butts to keep them off the beach and out of the ocean, and obviously they'll help reduce the litter problem wherever they're installed (provided of course that smokers actually use them)," he wrote in an email to Patch.

Tuesday night, he said, "If the smokers would just please use them, it would be wonderful."

The chapter hopes to do the same for other South Bay cities, he said, and has "an open offer to do so for any city that implements outdoor smoking restrictions that will help keep cigarette butt litter out of the environment, and to help maintain a healthy environment to enjoy the oceans, waves, and beaches."