State Sen. Joe Gruters, from Sarasota, is sponsoring a bill that would ban smoking at public beaches and areas within the boundaries of state parks. This has been attempted before, thus far without success.
Gruters said Wednesday that he is confident that Senate Bill 224, and it’s companion House Bill 105, will become law this year.
“Florida’s most precious resource is the beach,” Gruters said. “People want to enjoy their experience without having to deal with second-hand smoke and the litter of cigarette butts left behind. It’s time to get the bad butts off the beach and get the butts on the beach that we want.”
According to J.P. Brooker, director of Florida Conservation for Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butts, and the attached filters, are the No. 1 trash item collected along Florida beaches.
Also, news flash, cigarette butts are primarily plastic.
Cigarette butts are actually the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting our global environment. ~SceinceDirect
Cigarette filters, the plastic part of butts, can take up to 10 years to completely degrade, the chemicals they release can remain in the environment for many more years beyond the life of the cigarette butt itself.
“These cigarette butts are fundamentally little pieces of plastic that can ultimately get into our wildlife, the fish we consume,” Brooker said. “So we’re eating that plastic in fish and shellfish and it’s a public hazard.”
Brooker said the Ocean Conservancy has worked with 100 countries and that cigarette butts are at the top of the list of pollution on all those beaches.
The bill is in committee review after having passed a Senate hearing.
“It’s taken different forms and I think we’re finally at a place where we have a chance to move it,” Gruters said. “I expect it to continue to move in the Senate and, talking to a couple of people in the House, I think it has a real chance to pass there.”
Hawaii outlawed smoking on all state beaches in 2015.
California outlawed smoking on all state beaches in 2019.