Every morning and afternoon, Mark Allen can be seen picking up trash along Route 1. Cigarette butts, he said, are his biggest pet peeve. "I pick up my fair share of butts ... somewhere from 10 to 50 at a time," he said. "It's become socially acceptable to throw them on the ground."

The accumulation of cigarette butts on the streets of Dewey Beach has town officials looking at enhanced enforcement.

Commissioner Diane Hanson suggested an ordinance that would require restaurants to provide cigarette-disposal receptacles outside of their establishments, but the Board of Commissioners instead decided to implement continued strict enforcement of its littering ordinance.

"We need serious enforcement because it's just a mess," Hanson said. "I can walk two blocks and count over 100 cigarette butts. People walk outside of the restaurants and throw them into the street."

During last year's Delaware Coastal Cleanup effort, an estimated 1,170 butts were collected in Dewey Beach.

Bill Mears, code enforcement officer for the town, said the excessive cigarette littering can be attributed to the 2002 public smoking ban.

"It's not a bad thing that they've done that, but it's an increased opportunity for people to discard their butts in public areas," he said.

The inappropriate disposal of cigarette butts can carry a hefty fine for smokers, as the practice is classified as littering. Mears said fines vary from $50 to $100, not including court costs.

The town employs Georgetown-based Conner Sweeping Inc. to sweep its streets twice a week. Additionally, the Delaware Department of Transportation sweeps Route 1 periodically throughout the summer.

Tina Shockley, a spokesperson for DelDOT, said the street sweepers are fully capable of picking up cigarette butts.

"A lot of times, when it rains, the cigarette butts are washed down the drain. But if they're dry and on the road, the machines pick them up," she said. "It's a shame that kind of stuff goes into our water system, but it's a reality."

On the beach, butts aren't nearly as prevalent as they are on the town's streets, said Todd Fritchman, captain of the Dewey Beach Patrol.

"We do see them in the sand, but our streets are loaded with butts," Fritchman said. "Our storm drains are highly clogged with them."

According to a May 2009 report released by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, most of the cigarette butts that end up in streams, rivers and oceans come from street drains.

The report also says it has been proven that the "nicotine and ethylphenol in the leachates from cigarette butts" are toxic to marine creatures that ingest them.

slake@dmg.gannett.com

302-537-1881, ext. 204

(By Sarah Lake, Del Marva Now, 21/07/2010)