Campaigners trying to stop cigarette littering in Sidmouth are celebrating after being selected by a local supermarket to benefit from a pot of cash set aside to help local causes.

Sidmouth Plastic Warriors (SPW) have been selected as one of the beneficiaries of Sidmouth Waitrose's Community Matters Scheme, where shoppers use green tokens to vote for their favoured local cause.

Any money raised by the scheme will be used to buy and install new cigarette butt bins in the town to prevent the plastics and toxins reaching the sea.

The news come after a campaign was launched by SPW in July aiming to stamp out cigarette butt littering in the town.

Sidmouth Town Councillor and Plastic Warrior Denise Bickley said: "The Sidmouth Plastic Warriors already have a small amount of money to put towards our new project but whatever we receive from the Waitrose scheme will mean that we can expand our plans to have good quality cigarette butt bins throughout the Town and on the esplanade, where we have identified 'hot spots' of cigarette littering.

"Remember filters are made from plastic, and the toxins from one butt pollutes five litres of water. Our plans involve arranging to have the bins maintained, emptied, and then the contents sent off to Terracycle for recycling."

According to figures from the United Nations, 70% of all cigarettes are littered and in Sidmouth many of those cigarette butts end up in the sea where they pollute the water and harm wildlife.

Around 35 billion cigarettes are sold in Britain every year and each butt can take up to 15 years to degrade.

If any businesses in town want to help, either by sponsoring one or having one on their outside wall, Sidmouth Plastic Warriors would be delighted to hear from them, and anyone brave who wants to help with collecting the contents, email [email protected].