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Residents and environmental groups ask Scotts Valley council for meeting on banning filtered cigarette sales
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Summary
Multiple speakers during public comment urged the council to consider higher-level policy responses to cigarette-filter litter, asking for an informational meeting to explore an ordinance banning the sale of filtered cigarette products and citing environmental and public-health research.
A group of residents, nonprofit leaders and students asked the Scotts Valley City Council on April 1 to open a discussion about banning the sale of filtered cigarette products, saying filters are a persistent environmental pollutant and pose public-health concerns.
Katie Thompson, executive director of Save Our Shores, thanked the council for adopting Resolution No. 2045 in April 2024 recognizing tobacco-product waste as a public-health and environmental threat and urged the city to “continue building on that leadership by advancing solutions that reduce tobacco waste at its source and protect your community.”
Morgana Johnson, a Scotts Valley resident and policy committee coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation’s Santa Cruz chapter, said cigarette filters are single-use plastics that break down into microplastics and asked for “an opportunity to meet with you all to discuss whether a ban on the sale of filtered cigarette products can be considered as a future agenda item in Scotts Valley.”
A student intern with Save Our Shores, identified as Rhianna, told the council that nearly 19,000 cigarette butts have been collected in the San Lorenzo watershed over the past decade and urged more attention to the problem, arguing that inland litter contributes to ocean pollution.
Tara Leonard, project director for the Tobacco Education and Prevention Program at the County Public Health Service, offered the county perspective and said recent research found higher concentrations of microplastics in lung samples from smokers, adding that more research is needed but that the findings raise public-health concerns.
Other speakers, including resident and firefighter Sonny Johnson Gutter and Surfrider volunteers, asked only for an informational meeting so the council can review science and local cleanup data before any action.
Mayor Donna Lind acknowledged the comments and told speakers the council heard their concerns; the council did not take action on a ban at the meeting but indicated staff will consider future agenda placement if the council directs it.
Next steps: Several speakers requested a briefing or informational meeting; council members said they had heard the request and would consider placing the topic on a future agenda after staff follow-up.
