20 July 2006

Florida, USA: Cigarettes and their filters topped the list of trash items culled from beaches worldwide during last year's annual international coastal cleanup, according to a report.

In California, where at least 35 coastal cities prohibit smokers from lighting up on the beach, volunteers plucked 258,000 cigarettes and filters from the sand, more than anywhere in the country, The Ocean Conservancy said in a report scheduled for release Thursday.

More than 450,000 volunteers removed 8.2 million pounds of debris from 18,000 miles of coastline and waterways in 74 countries during the International Coastal Cleanup day in July last year, the report said.

California and Florida saw the most participation in the U.S., with 54,000 and 25,000 people participating, respectively.

Since 1986, more than six million volunteers in the project have removed 109 million pounds of trash from 179 million miles of beaches and waterways in 127 countries, according to the Washington-based environmental advocacy group.

Of the 6.2 million items of debris collected worldwide last year, cigarettes and cigarette butts accounted for roughly 1.6 million. Coming in a close second at 1.3 million were caps and lids, food wrappers and containers.