cigarettes - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T05:59:48Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/cigarettesBoynton Beach: Voluntary smoke-free areas established at beach parkhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-voluntary-smoke-free-areas-established-at-beach-par2017-05-31T15:59:53.000Z2017-05-31T15:59:53.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960729860,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960729860,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960729860?profile=original" /></a><em>Smoke-free zone signs are in place at Oceanfront Park.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tom Warnke/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Jane Smith<br /><br /></strong> Boynton Beach has created a voluntary smoke-free zone at its Oceanfront Park.<br /> “People will still be able to smoke in designated areas of the park. It’s more of a courtesy thing,” said Mayor Steven Grant. “I want to promote a family-friendly city where respect for others is important.”<br /> The idea came from an unnamed resident, Grant said. <br /> The city’s Parks Department purchased portable ashtrays using a Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful grant, said Colin Groff, an assistant city manager. The ashtrays are given to smokers to use in the parking lot and on the boardwalk. That way, butts might not end up on the ground.<br /> Cigarette filters contain man-made products that take years to break down, according to the PreventCigaretteLitter.org website. <br /> In early May, the city posted three signs about the voluntary program at Oceanfront Park. Each sign cost $10 to make because Boynton Beach has its own sign shop. The signs read: “Breathe freely. Voluntary smoke free zone. Please smoke in parking lot and on boardwalk.” The no-smoking program is voluntary and won’t be enforced, Groff said.<br /> Florida does not have an outdoor clean air act that bans smoking in public spaces, said Groff.</p></div>Delray Beach: Grant provides receptacles for cigarette buttshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-grant-provides-receptacles-for-cigarette-butts2011-08-31T18:07:31.000Z2011-08-31T18:07:31.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>Delray Beach has placed five receptacles for cigarette butts in beach locations in the vicinity of Atlantic Avenue and A1A, thanks to a $1,000 grant from Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful. <br />Mary Renaud, president of the Beach Property Owners Association, said cigarette butt litter is a problem on the beach. “The beach is covered with them.” She said she couldn’t comment on the receptacles, because she had not seen them, and did not know whether they would help the problem, adding that BPOA members have discussed on numerous occasions the possibility of a no-smoking policy on the beach.<br />Delray Beach will also use the funding to support a community awareness program including public service announcements and distribution of pocket ashtrays.<br /> This is the city’s second grant from Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful. <br />A 2009 grant resulted in the addition of three cigarette receptacles and the reduction of cigarette-butt litter by 29 percent in a three-block radius downtown off of Atlantic Avenue, according to the city.<br /><em>— Staff report</em></div>