Smoke on the beach? Trust in talks with States on a ban

Cigarette butts accounted for 2,550 of the items collected in its most recent marine litter survey and the charity said that if every piece of litter had been penalised it could have led to £178,500 in fines.

Policy officer Paul Bugden said the trust had already met with director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink.

‘Dr Brink wants to continue the campaign to reduce smoking,’ he said.

‘And we have spoken to see how our goals align, hers to reduce smoking for public health reasons and ours being environmental.

‘We have the same objectives and have discussed how we could achieve that by making at least some beaches smoking free.’

Mr Bugden said there was compelling scientific evidence to support a ban, which could be achieved by a simple change in the current law governing smoking in public places.

‘If you put one cigarette butt in a litre of fresh or salt water you get 50% fish mortality.

‘Imagine the impact one cigarette butt has on the wildlife in a rockpool. The effect of this sort of litter should not be underestimated.’

Cigarette butts contain harmful chemicals including arsenic, lead and nicotine and have been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, turtles, and sea birds and which have mistaken them for food.

The white fibres in a cigarette filter are not cotton, but a plastic called cellulose acetate that can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic.

The trust said it was awaiting the results of a recent survey conducted by the Health Improvement Commission and was hopeful that this would show public support for banning cigarette smoking in public places including on our beaches.

If it did ban smoking on beaches Guernsey would not be the first place to initiate such a law.

Smoking is banned on 700 of Spain’s 3,500 beaches, and the figure is growing every year.

Mexico meanwhile has some of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the world, including an outright ban in all public spaces such as beaches and parks.