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Keep Your Butts Off Our Beaches!

ENGLISH RIVIERA TOURIST BOARD

PRESS RELEASE: 18 June 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KEEP YOUR BUTTS OFF OUR BEACHES!

With the well-publicised smoking ban coming into force on July 1st, one of the most obvious repercussions will be an increase in the amount of cigarette litter on our streets and beaches. With this in mind, the team from the English Riviera Attractions Partnership have come up with a unique way of maintaining a clean Bay.

They plan to distribute old plastic film cartridges, which they have "snapped-up" as a way of keeping a lid on the potential problem. With the rapid growth of digital photography over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of these plastic cartridges have now become redundant.

The English Riviera Attractions Partnership, which is made up of 15 local tourist attractions, are particularly keen to keep our Blue Flag Beaches in tip top condition. With this in mind, Beach Attendants will be handing out the handy portable ashtrays on nine of the local beaches on the English Riviera, including Goodrington Sands, Torre Abbey and Oddicombe Beach.

The 'portable ashtrays' are also being given a funky image courtesy of the children of White Rock Primary School in Paignton, who will be sticking on labels with the slogan - "Bin Your Butts." The design has been given a special surfer-inspired funky feel, in the hope that people will carry them with them and keep local streets clean as well.

"It's a popular initiative in parts of Australia," explains James Hull, who is the General Operations Manager at Kent's Cavern and the mastermind behind the campaign. "I have managed to obtain 10,000 old film cartridges from a hotel photographer for the trial run, although it would be amazing to see this becoming a long-term scheme supported by local businesses."

"Keeping a clean Bay is vital to our tourism industry," he continues, "while it's fantastic to have the children of White Rock volunteer to help us, after all we should be keeping our beaches clean for the youngsters who play on them. Similar initiatives in the past have been proven to reduce butts on beaches by 26%, which would be a significant achievement over the coming summer months."

Cigarette butts are the most common littered item in the world and one of the most universally-found litter items on beaches around the UK. Cigarette butts are also non-biodegradable, with the filters made from 12,000 plastic fibres. They also contain toxins which can get into the water system, posing a threat to the environment and wildlife.

People who drop cigarette butts can be fined up to £80 under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, while using the portable ashtrays is free!

Ends

For additional information, please contact
Katherine Brown / Matt Newbury at the English Riviera Tourist Board on 01803-296 296
OR
James Hull at Kents Cavern Prehistoric Caves on 01803-215 136

Notes For Editors:

- An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts enter the environment every year
- In the UK, 120 tons of cigarette related litter is discarded on our streets every day
- In the UK, cigarettes account for over 40% of street litter
- After July 1st, all of these figures are set to increase
- Surfers Against Sewage claims cigarette butts are turning the coastline into a death trap for birds, fish and mammals who mistake the butts for food
- Estimates of the time it takes for a cigarette filter to degrade at sea vary from 12-15 years
- Cigarette butts dropped in the street can be washed down into drains by rain, the butts can then be washed out to sea