2023-07-17 16:03:13
The FPS Public Health is wondering regarding a possible smoking ban in Belgian seaside resorts. Asked, the city of Ostend wants to ban smoking on its beaches, reported the RTBF. The mayor of Koksijde is more mixed. He fears, for example, that we cannot really ensure the follow-up of this ban, because we would have to constantly monitor the beaches to punish smokers.
Bart Tommelein, mayor of Ostend, rejects this argument: “Since 2021, around 4,700 people in Ostend have been fined for throwing a cigarette butt on the ground. It’s easily observable and people quickly realize that they can’t do it anymore”.
“Such a ban is obvious,” reacted the Environmental Federation of West Flanders, pointing to the ecological impact of abandoned cigarette butts. A single cigarette butt takes between 10 and 15 years to degrade in nature and pollutes up to 500 liters of water.
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