The Santa Cruz County Tobacco Waste Subcommittee is a multi-jurisdictional, public-private, regional collaborative aimed at addressing the environmental and health threats posed by tobacco waste in our community - particularly cigarette filters.
Supervisors Cummings and Koenig lead the Subcommittee, which was established by the Board of Supervisors in May 2023. They are tasked with drafting an ordinance to mitigate the effects of plastic filtered tobacco products by January 2025.
We’re a coalition of community leaders, non-profit partners and environmental advocates responding to a loud voice in our County saying enough is enough, there are too many cigarette butts on our beaches, in our parks and on our streets. Though small in size, cigarette filters accumulate and cause big problems.