Smoke-free beach

Smoking banned on section of Dénia coast ...and free ashtrays for all the rest

FREE 'beach ashtrays' will be handed out in Dénia, and a section of the town's coastline has now become non-smoking.

A region-wide scheme is aiming for every municipality on the coast to have at least one section of beach where lighting up is not allowed, although as yet it appears that no plans are in place to ban cigarettes from the sands completely.

On less-crowded beaches where bathers can sit or lie several metres apart, it is not clear whether there is any real risk from passive smoking, since the emissions disperse in the air before they reach the next person, but on more packed shorelines where the requisite two-metre distance is about the maximum possible, the smell at least could be detectable by neighbouring sunseekers and they may even be breathing it in.

Most smokers say they would not light up if this was the situation.

El Campello, Elche and Dénia are the first three towns in the province of Alicante to set aside a smoke-free section of beach – along with Cullera (Ribera Baixa, Valencia province) and Oropesa de Mar (Castellón province).

In Dénia, this will be the Marge Roig end of the Marineta Cassiana beach, a length of around 700 metres (just under half a mile).

For the remainder, where smoking is still permitted, 2,000 free 'beach ashtrays' will be given out. These plastic cones with a lid can be rammed into the sand and the top closed to prevent ash and butts blowing away.

Although many thoughtless smokers simply dump their cigarette ends on the sand or bury them, many more make the effort to collect these up and dispose of them properly at the end of their sunbathing session.

Doing so this summer may be more risky, in light of the Covid-19 crisis.

Where ashtrays are not available, anyone who smokes should take a small bag with them for their butts, or pile them up in a visible place near their towel or sunbed to collect up and throw in the bin later.

Studies have already shown that many sea creatures 'eat' cigarette butts unwittingly, and they have even been found, in cases, inside fish caught for human consumption.