From TravelPulse
Fact: Cigarette butts are the main residue that pollutes beaches worldwide, representing 25 percent of the total garbage on beaches.
While cigarette butts seem to be biodegradable, they are anything but—pun intended. Sandos Hotels & Resorts gives us an inside look at the impact they have, and what you can do to help keep our pristine beaches as beautiful as ever.
When a cigarette is thrown into the ocean, they pollute the water with toxic substances like nicotine and tar, along with heavy metals like lead, nickel, arsenic and cyanide. Just one cigar butt can contaminate up to 25 liters of water, taking up to 15 years to decompose.
While these minerals are essential to nature and ocean life, an artificial increase in them is harmful to those species that inhabit our beautiful waters. Apart from that, it’s easy for an animal to confuse a cigarette butt with food, which can cause serious damage to its health, or even kill them.
Some shores have already implement initiatives to have smoke-free coastal zones with informative nature, for instance, smokers are not punished but there’s an initiative used to promote a healthy way of life and respect for the environment.
Last June, Sandos hotels of the Riviera Maya (Sandos Caracol, Sandos Cancun and Sandos Playacar) adopted one more commitment to our environment: picking up the cigarette butts on the beaches.
Want to help us out? Just deposit your cigarette butt in special bins at the Sandos hotels in Mexico and that’s it! On the other hand, if you are a smoker, we remind you that throughout our facilities we have specific areas designated for smoking. Together we can make a better world!
Fact: Cigarette butts are the main residue that pollutes beaches worldwide, representing 25 percent of the total garbage on beaches.
While cigarette butts seem to be biodegradable, they are anything but—pun intended. Sandos Hotels & Resorts gives us an inside look at the impact they have, and what you can do to help keep our pristine beaches as beautiful as ever.
When a cigarette is thrown into the ocean, they pollute the water with toxic substances like nicotine and tar, along with heavy metals like lead, nickel, arsenic and cyanide. Just one cigar butt can contaminate up to 25 liters of water, taking up to 15 years to decompose.
While these minerals are essential to nature and ocean life, an artificial increase in them is harmful to those species that inhabit our beautiful waters. Apart from that, it’s easy for an animal to confuse a cigarette butt with food, which can cause serious damage to its health, or even kill them.
Some shores have already implement initiatives to have smoke-free coastal zones with informative nature, for instance, smokers are not punished but there’s an initiative used to promote a healthy way of life and respect for the environment.
Last June, Sandos hotels of the Riviera Maya (Sandos Caracol, Sandos Cancun and Sandos Playacar) adopted one more commitment to our environment: picking up the cigarette butts on the beaches.
Want to help us out? Just deposit your cigarette butt in special bins at the Sandos hotels in Mexico and that’s it! On the other hand, if you are a smoker, we remind you that throughout our facilities we have specific areas designated for smoking. Together we can make a better world!
See more at: TravelPulse
