California’s “Cigarette Surfboard” documentary highlights scourge of discarded cigarette butts
By Molly McCrea
A new documentary about an eye-catching surfboard and its role in bolstering a grassroots campaign to protect the oceans is debuting online and filmmakers hope it will make waves and open a dialogue on how to best protect the ocean.
“It’s about surfers getting up, standing up for the ocean, and giving a voice to something that otherwise can’t speak for itself,” said filmmaker and surfer Bud Judkins.
The film is called The Cigarette Surfboard. The project behind the documentary is based in Santa Cruz, California, and it focuses on surfboards – called Ciggy Boards – that are created, and decorated, using intricate designs made from discarded cigarette butts.
“We’ve collected about 100,000 cigarette butts off California and Hawaii beaches and made them into about 14 surfboards,” explained the board-creator and surfer Taylor Lane.
The film features professional surfers including Cliff Kapono, Caity Simmers, Hannah Bennett, Mikey February, Easkey Britton, and Rob Machado. Former pro surfer, musician, and environmentalist Jack Johnson is also featured in the film
The ocean provides vital benefits to humans from food to climate regulation, according to The Nature Conservancy Research shows cigarettes butts contain chemicals that are toxic to marine life, and experts warn the plastics in them can break down into microplastics that can get into the air, soil, and water and into living creatures.
“That flick of cigarettes is just such a powerful symbol of our throwaway single use out of sight, out of mind culture,” said Judkins.
The Cigarette Surfboard has already influenced legislation in Santa Cruz County to ban the retail sale of single use cigarette filters in unicorporated areas of the county. In addition, the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola followed up with unanimous votes of their own. The Santa Cruz County and City of Santa Cruz ordinances go into effect on January 1, 2027, and the Capitola ordinance on July 1, 2027.
“Now there are other jurisdictions like Monterey and San Mateo County that are really pursuing an ordinance in that manner,” explained Lane.
According to a new Surfrider Foundation report, a quarter of all the litter collected on beaches is cigarette butts. Now, a new wave of trash is coming our way: disposable vapes and nicotine pouches. The foundation is participating in Saturday’s International Coastal Cleanup Day, one of the world’s largest annual volunteer effort to protect the ocean and beaches.
The online premiere of The Cigarette Surfboard will stream through Sept. 27. A ticket gives users access to the film and the live Q&As with some of the participants and surfers.
