Les Gets, the small French ski resort in the Haute-Savoie department, is getting serious. Takes precautions against smokers winter sports enthusiasts. Smoking is allowed in only five designated areas. There are ashtrays and trash cans. A stone’s throw from the Swiss border, Les Gets claims to be the first ski resort in Europe to ban smoking on slopes, ski lifts and ski lifts. Similar bans have been in place in the US for decades.
In the spring, volunteers collected more than 3,000 cigarette butts in one day at Les Gets (120 km of slope). Across France, 25,000 tons of this goes to forests or pastures. With corresponding consequences for flora, fauna and above all cows and sheep. Raw butts are of no use to them.
“Toxic residues pollute groundwater”
The Lung League welcomes the initiative from France. «There is no other waste in nature as often as cigarette butts. This is not only annoying, but also heavily polluting the environment,” Claudia Künzli tells Blick. She is the head of health promotion and prevention at Lung League.
“Toxic residues accumulate on the ground and contaminate groundwater. Cigarette butts also contain plastic that does not dissolve in nature for years.”
Awareness over prohibitions
But in Swiss ski areas, a smoking ban like in Les Gets is not an issue at the moment. For example, in the Grisons ski area of Flims/Laax/Falera, smoking is permitted on the entire mountain. In June, there is a Cleaning Day in the ski area. “Cigarette butts are no bigger problem than other types of waste,” says Weisse Arena Gruppe’s media office.
There is a similar sound at the Flumserberg ski area on Lake Walen. “Basically, we don’t want to work with bans, but instead we want to sensitize our guests to this issue,” says Katja Wildhaber, managing member of Flumserberg Bergbahnen. With sensitization rather than bans, you gain greater understanding from the smokers’ side.
cigarette smoke after skiing
Swiss ski areas already have a legal ban on smoking on cable cars and other indoor areas. “Our guests respect this without hesitation,” says Wildhaber.
However, there are exceptions. In some cantons, small after-ski bars with a maximum service area of 80 square meters may be registered as smoking places. “You can imagine being exposed to secondhand smoke in there,” said Lung League’s Künzli. he warns.
However, he also finds passive smoking problematic outside. “In the queues in front of the chairlift and on the cable car itself, you are exposed to secondhand smoke and you can’t avoid it.”
However, Kunzli does not find the current ban on smoking on slopes realistic at the national level. The reactions from Swiss winter sports centers also show that he is right.