SMOKERS are being called upon not to dispose of cigarette butts on the sands of Morecambe Bay as part of this year's LOVEmyBEACH campaign.

Hannah Barnes, LOVEmyBEACH co-ordinator at the Morecambe Bay Partnership, said: “A lot of people I speak to think that cigarette butts bio-degrade quickly and are relatively small therefore aren’t as bad as other pieces of litter. This isn’t the case as they take up to 12 years to break down. Plus the plastic fibres and toxic chemicals can have a damaging effect on marine life as well as spoil the way our beaches look.”

In 2016 the Marine Conservation Society Great British Beach Clean survey revealed that cigarette butts made up 7.6 per cent of all litter found - up 157 per cent on 2015 and an increase in 129 per cent over the past five years.

Allison Ogden-Newton, Keep Britain Tidy CEO said: “The beaches in the North West are a place of real beauty and an asset to the region. We need to change the way we dispose of our cigarette butts as burying them in the sand doesn’t cover up the fact it’s littering. Stub it out and put them in the bin with your other litter. ”