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Thousands of cigarette butts removed from Barcelona beaches, where smoking has been banned since 2022
Neither the regulations nor the signs have been enough: cigarette butts still invade the sand on Barcelona's beaches.
This Sunday, 170 volunteers removed no fewer than 5,249 cigarette butts from the beaches of Sant Sebastià, Sant Miquel, La Barceloneta and Somorrostro, despite smoking having been banned there since 2022. The butts, which weigh only 1.5 kg, were the most frequent waste in a clean-up that removed a total of 93.5 kg of rubbish, 30% of which consisted of plastic packaging and cans.
According to Joan Farigola, spokesperson for No Más Colillas en el Suelo, many come from smokers who frequent the nightlife area or throw them from the seafront promenade. He therefore proposes extending smoke-free zones to the entire urban coastline.
The clean-up took place on sand, breakwaters and the seabed, and forms part of World Oceans Day, with the aim of raising awareness of the pressure borne by marine ecosystems. It is a timely action, only one week before the Sant Joan festivities, when the beaches receive tens of thousands of people and tonnes of waste.