Scheveningen expands no-smoking zones to reduce cigarette waste on beach
The beach at Scheveningen has added three new smoke-free areas to reduce cigarette litter and improve the experience for visitors, city officials announced Thursday.
The new no-smoking zones include a section to the right of De Pier, an area near the Noorderstrand, and a smoke-free stretch on the Zuiderstrand. The sport beach near the lighthouse had already been designated smoke-free, Omroep West reported.
This expansion significantly increases the total smoke-free area on Scheveningen’s shore. Cigarette butts remain the largest source of trash on the beach, and the city aims to make the coast cleaner and more enjoyable for everyone.
“The beach belongs to all of us and offers space for everyone,” said Arjen Kapteijns, Scheveningen’s alderman for GroenLinks. “That includes people who don’t want to sit surrounded by smoke and cigarette butts. Expanding the smoke-free beach is an important step toward a cleaner coast.”
The existing smoke-free zones now include the sport beach on the Noorderstrand, located between the beach pavilions Hart Beach and Fonk. The area next to De Pier near the beach pavilion Zeezicht on the Noorderstrand is also smoke-free. Additionally, the Zuiderstrand area, south of beach access point Strandslag 1 near Kijkduin extending to the Westland border, and a stretch on the Noorderstrand from Strandslag 34 up to the Wassenaar boundary are now included.
Between 2023 and 2024, city officials tested a smoke-free zone on the sport beach near the lighthouse. The trial showed a significant drop in cigarette butts found in the sand, motivating the city to extend the policy to other parts of the beach.
TrashUre Hunt, an environmental cleanup group, installed a public art piece made from waste collected on the beach to mark the smoke-free zones. Ralph Groenheijde of TrashUre Hunt told Omroep West, “Anyone who finds a cigarette filter can bring it to the artwork. This is a simple way for everyone to help keep the beach clean.”
