Estepona has a ‘Smoke-Free Beach’ to promote healthy lifestyle habits

The space, which occupies an area of approximately 1,000 square meters, is located in the central beach of La Rada.

The Estepona City Council reports that the city has a ‘Smoke-free Beach’, which is located in the center of the city, to ensure that citizens can enjoy a space facing the sea where healthy habits are promoted.

The councilor attached to the delegation of Beaches, Susana Aragon, has indicated that this smoke-free space occupies an area of approximately 1,000 square meters on the beach of La Rada, next to a recreational playground and water park that is installed in that area every summer. The Consistory has chosen this location because it is an area of coastline visited by children and people interested in outdoor sports.

The mayor has commented that this action aims to promote healthy lifestyle habits and improve the health of users who visit our beaches. In this regard, he recalled that smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and premature death in the world and that in Europe alone causes more than 1.2 million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

He also pointed out that this smoke-free zone on the beach of La Rada aims to raise awareness among the population about the importance of preventing tobacco residues from remaining on the coast. In this regard, he stressed that each cigarette butt that is deposited in the sand or on the shore can contaminate up to 50 liters of water. In addition, the chemical composition of cigarettes means that they take up to 10 years to degrade, causing damage to both the seabed and the species that inhabit it.

To all this we must add that the creation of a ‘Smoke-free Beach’ also contributes to improving the image of the city’s coastline, as more and more people want to have public spaces where they do not suffer the inconvenience caused by smoking.

The ‘Smoke-free Beach’ is adhered to the project of the Andalusian Network of Health Services and Smoke-Free Spaces, which aims to raise awareness among the population about the importance of quitting smoking, as well as the health resources that exist to quit this habit.