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A decisive step has been taken by a ski resort in the Alps, in France. They prohibit anyone from smoking in their neighborhood.

Reported from CNN, Sunday (25/12/2022), a ski resort called Les Gets announced a smoking ban for its customers. This ski resort has become the first in Europe to ban smoking throughout its territory. They have a new slogan, namely “Les Gets, the neighborhood without butts”.

“We’ve been handing out free pocket ashtrays for years and that doesn’t change the number of cigarette butts we find at the end of the ski season,” said Benjamin Mugnier, marketing director for Les Gets.

“We had a clean-up day last spring with 100 volunteers. And after crossing the mountain, we found 3,000 cigarette butts.” he added.

Mugnier added that he believed there were still cigarette butts to be found. Since then, he decided to suggest a smoking ban.

Later, the municipal police will carry out patrols along the track. Visitors or anyone caught lighting a cigarette may be fined.

In fact, smoke-free skis are already working in several countries like Japan, New Zealand and Canada. And for the European region, Les Gets is the first.

Data from the French Ministry of Health reveals that around 32% of French adults aged 18 to 75 identify themselves as smokers. This figure is higher than that of the United States with 12.5%.

Mugnier said the decision to quit smoking was difficult but necessary. And these rules don’t just apply to skiers and snowboarders. But also the camping area.

Les Gets, located in eastern France near the Swiss border, has an active season throughout the year, with hiking, climbing and camping. It also hosts the 2022 Mountain Bike World Championships.

While snow can hide piles of cigarette butts for many years, their melting can be a nasty surprise in the spring.

However, Les Gets does not have a total smoking ban in place. The resort has set up five designated smoking areas and all cigarette butts collected from these areas will be recycled for energy purposes.

With this first European policy, the station hopes to launch a new trend in hospitality while taking care of the Earth. Despite concerns that some diners may cancel reservations or not return next year due to the smoking ban, Mugnier says that’s not a problem.

When stations informed customers in the first round of the new ban, the majority expressed support. Even smokers support the ban.

“Some people say ‘we are not going to come and ski with you’, but they are not the ones who made the reservations with us”, says Mugnier.

Watch the video “Appearance of the glaciers of the Alps experiencing the worst melting“
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