Barcelona chiringuito exchanges free drinks for beach clean-up

A CHIRINGUITO in Barcelona has come up with an inventive incentive to clean up the beach and pull in the punters.

In exchange for a cupload of collected cigarette butts, thirsty beach cleaners are rewarded with a free shot of their favourite tipple.  

It’s all happening on Castelldefels beach in Baix Llobregat, where the owners of the Tibu-Ron chiringuito are making a clean sweep of the shoreline to stub out the dirty litter habit.

The business hopes to spread awareness about how dangerous leaving cigarette butts on the beach is. Cigarettes take 20 years to naturally degrade and contaminate three litres of saltwater per discarded butt. They are the most commonly-discarded piece of waste worldwide, adding up to an incredible 770,000 tonnes of litter.

Determined to keep it green, the bar owners have also begun recycling plastic waste and putting the proceeds towards children’s cancer research.