Dr. Beach wants your butts off the beach!
Cigarette butts are the largest source of pollution plaguing Florida’s beaches. Americans smoke about 360 billion filtered cigarettes each year, and at least 275 million butts are tossed to the ground. Smoking is harmful to our health, but carelessly tossed butts are harmful to our environment and potentially our tourism. We need to get the butts off our beaches!
Americans love beaches. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, they are Florida’s top recreational destination. In fact, our state is blessed with 825 miles of good-quality beaches. But we must act to protect them. Florida must ban smoking on its beaches.
Some cities, including Miami Beach, rely on sweepers to clean its shorelines every morning. But cigarette butts often fall through their screens. It’s a problem for people, sea turtles and any other living things on the beach. The chemicals and toxic heavy metals in cigarette butts degrade so slowly they hang around for up to 15 years. To make things worse, these butts sometimes end up in the mouths of our children or animals.
Cleaning up cigarette butts is also expensive. A San Francisco litter audit study found the cost of cleaning up the entire city, including its beaches, to be $7 million annually. Local taxpayers must bear this economic impact.
Beachgoers want clean water and sand. In fact, those are the two most important factors in my annual rating of America’s Best Beaches. I actually give extra credit to beaches that don’t allow smoking.
Nothing restores the body and soul like a beach vacation. But sitting down on the sand and finding a nasty cigarette butt touching my hand spoils the whole experience.
Recent Florida voter opinion polls showed 75 percent of citizens are very concerned or somewhat concerned about cigarette litter. When Floridians were asked about whether local governments should have the right to establish smoke-free municipal parks and playgrounds, 66 percent agreed this is an idea whose time had come.
Seventy-two percent of respondents said local governments should have the right to prohibit smoking in public places wherever children may be present — and sandy beaches are the favorite playgrounds of kids. These polls clearly show overwhelming support for smoke-free parks and playgrounds.
In 2007, Sarasota banned smoking, only to have a judge rule that local governments cannot ban something that is legal at the state level. But smoking is banned at restaurants and most buildings, so why do we allow it on our beaches? The island of Oahu, Hawaii prohibits smoking at all beaches, which includes the world-famous Waikiki Beach. They have led the way. Isn’t it time for us to follow?
In this legislative session, Sen. Joe Gruters will introduce Senate Bill 218, which would prohibit smoking tobacco on Florida’s public beaches. Gov. Ron DeSantis should take up this issue to complement his already strong stance on cleaning up the coastal environment, in light of the recent red tide problems plaguing our beaches.
Stephen P. Leatherman, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Florida International University. He is best known to the public as “Dr. Beach,” for his annual ranking of America’s Best Beaches.
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