Volunteers descended on Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa to clear thousands of cigarette butts that could take up to a decade to disintegrate.

On Saturday, a group of 10 people spent three-and-a-half hours collecting cigarette butts from these two beaches.

'The big butt day' was organised by the Gaia Foundation and Malta Clean Up.

“One cigarette butt can contaminate 50 litres of water. It could take up 10 to 12 years to disintegrate. Each cigarette butt threatens to stub out our marine life,” volunteer Steven Bajada said.

“Truth be told, the number of cigarette butts polluting our environment is just insane. This can't go on.”

Cami Appelgren, from Malta Clean Up, said a total of 5,950 cigarette butts were collected by the end of the day, sparing the ocean from 42,650,000 chemicals.

It is a common misconception that cigarette butts are made from paper and will decompose in a matter of days.

On the contrary, they are full of plastic and are one of the biggest polluters of our oceans. They leach harmful chemicals into the water and can be consumed by marine life.

Consequently, they have a detrimental effect on marine eco systems.

The next seafront butt cleanup will take place on Sunday at St Julian’s and Sliema.

The event will be organised by Get Trashed Malta and Malta Clean Up.

Earlier this year, Malta Clean Up teamed up with various local councils to help coordinate clean-ups at 77 sites across Malta and Gozo, marking World Earth Day.