Don't smoke anymore, but when I did (how come I used to smoke 40 a day in Greece!) I used to take an empty packet with me to the beach and fill that up or an empty water bottle - either way it went in the bin on the way home....

Couldn't agree more. I'm a smoker too and also keep all my fag ends in a pile and then collect them up in a tissue before I leave and bin 'em. It's horrible spreading your towel out on top of someone else's fag ends

its not just fag ends on the beach, as a smoker myself i have often wondered WHY when there are litter bins in the street do people just throw them down,,and worse still in a bar or pub with ashtrays why oh why do they insist on dogging them on the floor or Carpets

there you go thats my rant

wizard

On a slightly different tack...the look on my face must have been a picture the first time I went to Greece and at the end of my lovely meal, fag butts, leftovers etc were all tipped on the the paper table cloth in front of me.......then rolled up and taken away!

I think we forget how alien Greece used to feel sometimes!

Better than leaving them all on the table. Quite good service really.

Thats us brits for you though, look at how disgusting our own beeches are covered in all sorts of rubbish, people just dont care anymore or appreciate what we have but greece is lovely and despite some of their archaic ways do keep the place clean, for the sake of a few ill mannered people it gives the rest of us a bad rep!

I must say that having just returned from Rhodes, we were on the beach at Pefkos which has been awarded the blue flag for this year. How refreshing it was to see people bringing the odd bit of rubbish out of the water like discarded plastic bags and the odd drink bottle binning them and then returning to the water. Long may it continue.

Don

I am not a smoker but my husband smoker 6/7 home rolled cigarettes a day not only when abroad but in this Country he carries a pocket ashtray
and disperses of ash and cigarette butts at home
pojo

Nothing worse than digging your feet in the warm sand and ending up with someone elses fag butt between the toes!

Many a greek beach has been spoiled for me by this disgusting habit (and yes, I used to smoke!)

Sue

Out of interest, what is the Greek policy on smoking in public and/or in hotels nowadays? I haven't been to Greece for a few years but might go again if there are some suitable hotels.

Cheers everyone

It's changed a bit over the last 5 years or so - for example Heraklion Airport used to be "all smoking", then there was a tiny "non smoking" cubicle in departures, now the cubcle is for the smokers!

Not come across any non-smoking tavernas or hotels though - the one thing you seem t be able to guarantee in a Greek room is that you'll have an ashtray!

phil68618 & Elenitsa



please stick to the topic.. if you wish to discuss the non smoking policy in Greece please start another thread OR use the Greek chat thread
wizard

Oops - sorry!

On holiday in Tolon recently, the guy who rented out the sunbeds & umbrellas provided all smokers with an ashtray. Nice idea!

My friends who smoke have little stubbi pouches supplied by the non smoking council in Wales. They are around 2 inch square and you put the LIT stub into it and it automatically extinguishes it. They carry them everywhere & I just thought that something like this would be brilliant for taking to the beach

You can buy Stubbis on the internet, they're a brand name and they originated in Australia.

I have a couple and they're fab if like me you don't want to put your cigs out on the pavement or anywhere else. I always carry one with me, especially on holiday and they've had even more use since July 1st

As Helen says you put the LIT cigarette into the Stubbi and close the flap and it immediately extinguishes the ciggy, you can get about 4 in before it needs emptying.

It is always a shame when walking along gorgeous sandy beaches (not just in Greece) to find so many butts dumped

I don't think this situation will change for a long time as there are several factors involved -

You would have to change the mentality of certain smokers and get them to realise that it is wrong just to dump their butts directly on the beach, the same lovely beach that they have gone to enjoy and spend time on in the first place.

More should be done to help prevent the dumping by providing some (discreet) bins, ashtrays and other forms of environmentally friendly disposal.

If necessary spot fines should be introduced and more importantly enforced.

Cigarette butts are not biodegradable, the filters are made of a type of plastic and so persist for many years (12-15), manufactures should be forced to spend a little of their massive profits on finding and producing butts that quickly breakdown in to an environmentally friendly substance after use.

Of course we must also remember that with an estimated worldwide 4.5 TRILLION cigarette butts dumped every year the major problem is not the cigarette ends that are directly discarded on beaches but those that are dumped elsewhere (streets, carparks etc), they get washed down drains and end up in streams and rivers and eventually end up on beaches and in seas.

It is not just us humans who are being affected by the problems of butt dumping, trillions of cigarette butts enter the water environment every year with potentially devastating effects on marine wildlife. They have been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, sea birds, fish and turtles where they can leach toxic chemicals, cause inflammation of the animal's digestive system and occasionally even death.

Right I feel better now that I have got my little rant over