Two issues last year were lightning rods for Florida’s legislature. One was its push-back against communities such as St. Augustine Beach and Key West attempting to ban plastic straws and toxic brands of suntan, lotion, respectively. The second was a larger, more overreaching issue of local preemption by the state on these and other important efforts by cities and counties to make themselves more livable. Less, might we say, “For Sale?”
In January, Floridians can strike a blow to both issues by coming together to support a bill by Sarasota Sen. Joe Gruters, who has filed a bill that gets in the state’s face in two ways. His bill would prohibit smoking on beaches, including vaping.
That’s been tried before and failed. This one may, too. But the big difference this year is the bill does not mandate a statewide ban, but allows counties and municipalities to set decide on their own whether or not to ban smoking. The bill also includes parks.
Let’s be clear, Gruters is no tree-hugger. He’s a Republican, so that’s not allowed. He’s attacking smoking because it may be damaging the reputation of Sarasota County’s lucrative beachfront businesses.
Many of you may be aware of the work of Dr. Stephen Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University – at least by his moniker “Dr. Beach.”
He’s the one who puts together the annual reports on Florida’s most beautiful beaches. Sarasota County’s Siesta Key is usually highly ranked. But Dr. Beach now takes into account smoking as a factor in his rankings. That’s potentially bad for business.
It’s likewise bad for business here.
But the real issue isn’t smoking on beaches. It’s the proliferation of cigarette butts on the beach. Yes, that’s part of the aesthetics slant. Who wants to pound their umbrella into butt-strewn sand?
No. It’s the environmental effects that aren’t getting their due.
The Ocean Conservancy has sponsored beach cleanups since 1986. For all those years, cigarette butts have been the single most collected trash on the world’s beaches. It estimates 60 million have been removed worldwide in the past 33 years.
According to U.S. News & World Report, they represent the No. 1 man-made contaminant in the world’s oceans, yet it has sidestepped regulation for decades.
Tara Dodson, who heads up the programs to protect our visiting sea turtles each year, also organizes volunteer beach cleanups locally several times a year. She says in the past decade, volunteers have snatched 600,000 butts of local beaches.
If there are that many left above the high tide mark, how many have been swept out to sea? Cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate, a form of plastic (like straws and balloons) that disintegrates into microplastics and is easily consumed by marine critters. Researchers have found residue in 70 percent of seabirds and 30 percent of sea turtles.
Other research confirms the microplastics from cigarette filters are also leeching into soil, streams and rivers.
St. Augustine Beach Mayor Undine George, said she’s “100 percent behind it” for her city. And she reminded us that the city has recently implemented an ordinance allowing Beach Police to cite those seen dumping their butts in city sand.
Let Tallahassee decide what to do with State Parks, such as Anastasia (and yes, we cringe saying that). But if the bill allows us to decide what we want for our residents and visitors, we’ll take it.
This should be something the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties need to get behind, along with all the residents of each.
The problem will be… in Tallahassee, it makes too much sense to pass.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Make state butt out of beach smoking