Beach ashtray drive a smoking success

July 13, 2017

An initiative encouraging Larnaca seaside smokers to be more responsible with their cigarette butts has been declared a resounding success with over 16,000 stubs collected in just one month.

The Larnaca Tourism Board announced this initiative’s resounding success this week, thanking its partners in the effort the Eco-Ashtray initiative and FAR Fusion Asset Recovery.

The aim behind the innovative move is to combat the pollution caused by cigarette butts which litter the district’s many beaches by offering smokers at some of the most popular beaches the use of biodegradable ashtrays.

Displays consisting of a wooden stand with instructions and 100 biodegradable plastic funnel ashtrays attached to a special stainless steel waste bin have been set up at the selected beaches.

Visitors can take a plastic cone and use it for the duration of their stay at the beach and are then required to empty it in the designated  bin before returning the cone to the display stand when they leave.

The ashtrays can be found at Blue Flag beaches (Phinikoudes, Mackenzie, Castela, Yiannades, Voroklini, Pervolia Lighthouse) as well as Careta beach at Kiti and the CTO beach at Pyla.

Stands have also been placed at the tourist beaches between Golden Bay Hotel and Sandy Beach Hotel in Pyla as well as in between the Palm Beach Hotel and the Princess Hotel in Oroklini and opposite the Ciao Stelio-Constantiana Hotel along Tassos Mitsopoulos street.