Making the population aware of the environmental and health impact generated by cigarette butts on the coast and bathing areas of the municipality is the objective of the campaign Beaches without cigarette butts, of the municipal company Sermugran. Its president, Marcos González, explains that it includes information sessions on the beach in which environmental educators will inform users and hand out an information brochure and an ashtray. Informative posters and three ashtray dispensers will be installed on the beaches of El Médano, La Tejita and La Jaquita, highlights the vice president of Sermugran, María Candelaria Rodríguez.
The information sessions began yesterday at El Médano beach, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and will continue today, at La Jaquita, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; for tomorrow it is scheduled at La Tejita beach, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Next week, on Friday, the 7th, the information days return to El Médano; on Saturday, the 8th, they will take place in Los Abrigos, and on Sunday, the 9th, they will take place in La Tejita, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Butts are the most discarded waste in the world and are highly polluting and harmful because they contain “numerous chemical substances and microplastics, which directly affect marine life, with a single butt being able to contaminate 500 liters of water.”