Cigarette butts are the most common type of debris found during cleanups. Consistently, for over 25 years, cigarettes butts have been the top item collected during the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). In 2017 alone, more than 2.4 million cigarette butts were found at cleanup sites during the ICC. Although the amount of cigarettes consumed in the US is steadily falling, the amount of cigarette butts found in our ocean and Great Lakes is not. Why do these butts persist in our waters? And why are they such a problem, aren’t they made of natural materials?