The Owen Sound Waste Watchers will hold a several events in April to pick up discarded cigarette butts.
Spokesperson Anne Finlay-Stewart said the they are joining a national Butt Blitz campaign.
"This organization called Greener Futures, that has also been doing litter pickup, but they decided particularly to focus on cigarette butts because it's one of those things that so small but so toxic and there are so many of them," explained Finlay-Stewart.
Stewart revealed that cigarette butts are the most often discarded litter in the world. She says they are also very toxic, and one butt could contaminate a litre of water.
"Now there's lots of chemicals involved and the filter itself is made of tiny, tiny micro plastics that take a very long time to break down and do end up in fish, and in water systems and in aquatic life," she stressed.
Finlay-Stewart pointed out that the campaign also serves to create awareness.
"To help people understand that these are very toxic and to be aware of before they throw them on the ground," she continued. "I know it's very small and that's why people go and they dispose of them before they go inside. Buildings and all of that sort of thing. And so I know why people throw them away. But if they were more aware of how toxic they were, then I think people could maybe reduce the number we'd find next year."
Last April, 22,025 items were collected from the Owen Sound area, as part of the Butt Blitz.
Since 2018, Owen Sound Waste Watchers has shipped 241,735 cigarette waste items to Terracycle Canada in Fergus for recycling.
In all, volunteers from across the country have picked up over 4.1 million items to be recycled as part of this campaign to date.