Spring 2015 has not been the best for smokers so far, whether it be in the North or in the South of France! While the city of Paris decreed at the end of March that double fines will now punish the dumping of cigarette butts (as well as any other kind of trash) on the street, the city council of Biarritz made it public on the 20th of April that “Tobacco free areas” would be created in town; this decision was confirmed on the 24th. The term “Tobacco free area” refers to a label newly crafted by French Cancer League, which has not been much implemented yet: with Biarritz’s initiative, it will be premiering on the Bask coast. Among the designated zones is Port-Vieux beach, which is close to the town centre and attracts many families. Apart from the problem of tobacco as a public health issue, this measure raises the question of litter on our beaches. As a matter of fact, cigarette butts are just as harmful to the environment as they are commonly found in it. What are the best ways of fighting this battle?
Cigarette butts as a serious threat to the environment
As Surfrider usually points out in its awareness raising programmes, cigarette butts rank among the most commonly found types of litter during the Ocean Initiatives and, generally speaking, in the sea. Though they are made of resistant materials which degrade quite slowly (plastic materials…), they are all too often dropped on the ground. Carried away by sewage water, they are then left to flow along with the water cycle; their modest size allows them to escape water treatment plants and, finally, float out to sea. As the number of cigarette butts thrown on the ground, among other tobacco-related items (mostly cigarette packs and lighters), has dramatically increased since it became illegal to smoke in public places (2008 in France), Surfrider volunteers have been able to gather impressive amounts of them overs the last few years: 8,000 were recently picked up in just two hours in Six-Fours and 25,000 in three hours in Marseille!
Pictured: “What you throw on the ground will end up in the sea!” During the 2015 Paris Ocean Initiatives, no less than 9,500 cigarette butts were collected along the banks of Canal Saint-Martin in just a few hours.
Once they have reached the water, cigarette butts never remain inoffensive. Being made of more than 4,000 noxious chemicals (including arsenic and heavy metals) in addition to tobacco, they can pollute up to 500 litres of water each! They may decompose and become invisible: that doesn’t change a thing. Nor does the false solution advertised as a “biodegradable” cigarette butt: just as most so-called biodegradable materials, all it does is degrade into tiny particles faster – leaving the harm it does unchanged, whether it be chemical pollution or ingestion by animals. That is why Surfrider made it one of the emblems of its fight against marine litter at the 2015 Ocean Initiatives.
Is a ban on cigarettes the best possible response?
Since La Ciotat instituted France’s first tobacco-free beaches in 2011, its example has been followed by nearly a dozen other towns. Biarritz has now been working on the cigarette issue for several years, which makes the announcement yet another step towards collective awareness. However, the fact that the ban is to be implemented on small Port-Vieux beach, among whose frequent visitors are many families and children, and that it is affiliated with French Cancer League, must serve as a reminder that the town council is at least as preoccupied with public health as with the environment.
Yet it might help to make a clearer distinction between these two aspects of cigarette-specific public policy in order for each one to be addressed more specifically and complete the other in an efficient way. In Paris, though smokers may soon receive twice the fine, the city council has committed to install 30,000 new ashtrays on the streets. Similarly, in Biarritz, “it is an absolute priority to extend this awareness of the cigarette issue to the entire town, as cigarette butts keep flooding bars and restaurants’ terraces – which are just a few steps from the beach.” (Philippe Bencivengo, Water Quality & Health Officer, Surfrider foundation Europe). If not, banning cigarettes altogether would be not only our last resort, but our only one!
Thus the town council’s decision to put a restriction on individual liberties, shouldn’t distract us from the real priority in this case, which is universal awareness raising. Whether or not one approves of a localized ban, which seems more defendable from a sanitary than from an environmental point of view, the town council should now focus on appealing to smokers’ civic-mindedness. Making a case for the use of pocket ashtrays, installing new litter bins on beaches and in highly frequented areas – such ideas, among others, might help extend Biarritz’s commitment by letting more appropriate habits spread.
Care to find out more about cigarette butts and get involved? Don’t hesitate to check out our pedagogical tools, join a litter collection or organize yours: visit the Ocean Initiatives‘ website!
Edouard Benichou, Environmental editor
