Stop the litter butts

I love Hilton Head Island, and I mean love. White, sandy beaches, miles of biking trails, and a beautiful ecology of birds, alligators and humans all living among the moss-draped tress. But the butts!

Cigarette butts, little chemical bombs, literally line the roads like pine straw. They litter the beach like ugly shells that no one will pick up and put in their pocket as a keepsake of how much they loved our beaches.

I don’t know what kind of person would litter in paradise, but there are butts everywhere you look. That is a horrible thing to see when you know kids are running around, birds are foraging for food, and the butts could have easily gone in the trash, or a pocket of the smoker.

I think we need to seriously discuss a smoking ban on this island, and send a message that we don’t want to live in a paradise covered in chemical litter, that not only makes the water quality low, but degrades the experience of everyone. I can’t tell you how many people I have seen smoking a cigarette, only to toss it on the ground, next to families and kids, even babies.

Next time you are walking on our beautiful pathways, look down and think about how much litter people are getting away with. I thought there was a fine for littering — so let’s start making it a priority to clean up these butts, and get the litter bugs to pay.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Stop the litter butts."