Jacqueline Fanchini (Reporter)DISCARDED cigarette butts are contaminating the Costa del Sol’s beaches, according to an expat conservation group.
Volunteer members of the Asociacion Amigos del Mar Costa Tropical – a non-profit group founded in 2014 – combed a symbolic two-metre square area of La Herradura beach in Almunecar for discarded stubs, uncovering 280 butts.
Do the math on the 86,500 square metres of beach and it adds up to an astounding 8,857,700 fag ends buried in the sand.
“A single butt in a litre of water is more than enough to kill a small fish within four days, as the filter releases harmful components on contact with water,” said an Environment Ministry spokesperson.
The group aims to promote local marine awareness in the Costa Tropical, with workshops, clean-ups and the Annual Sea Festival, to be held on September 19 and 20.
For more information call 654 433 598, or visit www.facebook.com/AsociacionAmigosdelMar
This illustrates the selfishness of silly smokers. Frustrated at not being able to pollute the rest of us with their filthy by-product, they petulantly chuck their discarded dog-ends in our faces instead.
Isn’t that the same stretch of beach where the new super luxury seven star hotel is being built by Banyan Tree?
I constantly amazed by people banging on about the beaches on the Costa del Sol. Truth is, they are filthy places, and the sand is builders grade material. Time to ban smoking on the beaches to I think, with inspections, to begin the process of cleaning them up.
And dog sh…