Environment campaigners call for beach smoking ban
September 24, 2025
Environment campaigners call for beach smoking ban
BBCThere are calls for smoking to be banned on beaches in Guernsey after litter pickers lifted nearly 2,500 cigarette butts last year.
The Clean Earth Trust reported its volunteers picked up on average 33 cigarette butts every beach clean in 2024.
The Health Improvement Commission says 61% of islanders it surveyed would support a ban.
Public Health have declined to comment.
The Clean Earth Trust’s Marine Litter Report 2024 reported that after plastic, cigarette butts were the second most common item lifted by litter pickers.
Volunteers found 2,476 butts in 2024, with 445 butts picked up in one hour at Les Banques.
Cobo, Belle Greve and Grandes Rocques were the worst offenders for litter from smoking.
The Trust estimated that if fines were issued for every cigarette butt dropped, the penalties would come to £235,220.
‘A serious matter’
Paul Bugden, the trust’s policy officer, says Guernsey should follow the lead of France and some parts of the UK to ban smoking on or near beaches.
“People don’t realise that cigarette butts contain a lot of toxins and those find their way into the marine environment.
“If you put one cigarette butt into a litre of water, and add saltwater or freshwater fish to that mixture, fifty percent of that marine life dies.
“So if you imagine a cigarette butt in a rockpool during a low tide, wildlife in those ponds are likely to be harmed, so it’s a serious matter.”
Lucy Cave, tobacco harm reduction officer at the Health Improvement Commission, said 61% of people surveyed supported banning smoking on beaches.
The survey found 24% of respondents would not support the measure, and 14% were neutral.
The Commission also spoke to young people in focus groups.
“They were concerned about the environmental impacts of cigarette butts on beaches and various locations, which will eventually end up in the ocean,” said Ms Cave.
“There was also the safety factor of children running around barefoot who might catch their foot on a stubbed end of a cigarette.”
Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.
Search
RECENT PRESS RELEASES
Related Post
