Discarded cigarette butts are the small but toxic pieces of trash which are polluting our environment by the trillion.
A documentary, directed by Ben Judkins, called the Cigarette Surfboard, takes a unique approach to draw attention to the issue of the damage that cigarette butts do to our oceans—it features a surfboard created from cigarette butts.
"[It's made from] cigarette butts picked up off the beaches in California and Hawaii. There's thousands in each board and these really are this conversation starter," Judkins told KCLU.
"Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world. 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year globally and cigarette butts are made from plastic. It's called cellulose acetate, it's a form of plastic. And so what happens when someone smokes a cigarette and flicks their butt? It contains all of those toxins within that plastic filter. And over time, as it interacts with water, those toxins are released into rivers. And this isn't just about the ocean. This is about city streets—everywhere kind of leads to the ocean," said the filmmaker.
"So who better to stand up for the health of the ocean than surfers? We're kind of the canary in the coal mine. We're in the ocean every day. We see and we feel when there's issues such as plastic or sewage or whatever it is like on our coastlines or in the ocean," he said.
Judkins says surfing may be the medium but the message about protecting our oceans is universal.
"It's a really great way to start talking about some of the bigger issues facing the planet," he said.
He says the butts are "emblematic" of the culture of waste, and that small actions can add up.
"That can either be this negative accumulation such as littered cigarette butts or it can be this positive thing like the small actions we do in our daily lives, in our small communities. And that ripple effect is really much bigger than we might anticipate," he said.
Judkins showcases one of the surfboards created from cigarette butts, which is exquisitely put together with the brown hues you may expect from the butts, and white filters which decoratively are arranged to form the shape of a fish carcass, and there's a bright flash of ocean aqua at the top of the 5ft 3in long board.
"This right here has maybe 3000 to 4000 cigarette butts in it all picked up off beaches in California and Hawaii. On this one, you can see this dead mahi mahi. So there's this environmental statement embedded within the surf board," he said. "And these boards really do rip!"
The Cigarette Surfboard documentary is being screened at Topa Topa Brewing’s Downtown Ventura taproom, along with a Q&A about ocean waste, on Friday February 21—as well as a screening in Santa Barbara on Thursday February 20.
