Scheveningen beaches to be smoke-free starting this weekend

Cigarette butts on the beach will become a thing of the past. As part of the Waste Attack Plan, Scheveningen beach will remain smoke-free until October 31. For this purpose, selected sections of the beach are to be made partially and voluntarily smoke-free, to pollute the environment less by reducing waste, De Telegraaf reports.

The experiment is intended to be a moral appeal to smokers and get them to reconsider their smoking behavior on the beach. However, they cannot force this. Mainly because of the lack of staff and legal hurdles. But "With flags, information boards and via social media, we will point this out to visitors," says councilor Arjen Kapteijns.

The action aims to curb the environmentally harmful consequences that cigarette butts have on the beach. Because usually, most cigarette butts end up not only on the beach but also in the sea. Kapteijns points out that cigarette butts can pollute up to a thousand liters of water. "This is a real problem for water quality, and cigarette butts are also harmful to animals." In addition, the discarded cigarette butts also pose a problem for local beach cleaners, as they are usually too small to be sucked up by the cleaners.

However, the plan already has some successes to its credit, he says. In the municipalities of Noordwijk and Renesse, for example, smoking is actually reduced as a result of the smoke-free beach area, according to the councilor.

"I feel like this plan takes real steps to address the trash problem. The plan includes 50 additional measures, including unconventional ones such as lemon air on underground containers to prevent trash bag dumping," Kapteijns tell De Telegraaf.

TrashUre Hunt began removing all cigarette butts from selected sections of the beach on Friday, clearing the way for a fresh start. "They will also measure the progress and count how many cigarette butts there are at the end of the trial," Kapteijns explains.