Men work to make beach smoke-free

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Chic's Beach resident Donny Damon and his friend are spearheading a movement for a smoke free beach, and have gathered thousands of cigarette butts to prove their point.

Damon and his friend Larry Conner have collected more than 12,000 cigarette butts in the past three months.

"It's the most littered substance in the world," Damon said. "I think it's 9.7 trillion cigarette butts are littered into the environment every year. And there's 7 billion people that means 700 cigarette butts per man, woman and child are littered in the world every year."   

Damon wants the general assembly to approve legislation that would prohibit smoking on the beach.  

"I think protecting the non-smoker is just as important as protecting the smoker," Damon said. "Obviously, the smoker has lost their right to smoke down here."

It's not just the non-smoker they want to protect, marine life is also affected by beached butts.

"They say that a high percentage of the sea turtles they find dead, or are dying because they're eating cigarette butts thinking they're food," Larry Conner said.