Smokers told to butt out

TENTERFIELD Shire residents will no longer be able to smoke in the state’s national parks after the NSW Government banned the practice.
The ban, which will commence on 1 January 2015, will include picnic areas, campgrounds, lookouts, walking tracks and national parks roads.
“Cigarette butts can be ingested by our wildlife, wash into waterways and spoil the beauty of our natural places,” Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said, who welcomed the move.
“Most concerning in our region, though, particularly during this time of year, discarded cigarette butts can be the cause of severe bushfires.
NSW Environment Minister Rob Stokes said the ban would diminish the risk of bushfires and reduce litter in national parks, with surveys confirming cigarette butts form up to half of the measured litter across the nation.
“Seven billion cigarette butts are littered in Australia every year, putting lives and property at risk, ruining beaches, spoiling the beauty of our parks and endangering wildlife,” Mr Stokes said.
“The Royal Commission into the devastating Victorian bushfires, where over 170 people died, singled out cigarette butts as one of the likely causes of bushfire in the Australian environment.”
Police and Emergency Services Minister Stuart Ayres recently announced that the penalty for littering lighted cigarettes has doubled from $330 to $660.
The fine has gone from $660 to $1320 if someone discards a lit cigarette on a Total Fire Ban day.
Locals and park visitors will be made aware of the ban through a community education and communication campaign, Mr Marshall he said.
Cigarette butts contain more than 4000 chemicals, including 43 known carcinogens such as ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and arsenic.
When cigarette butts are discarded the chemicals leach into the surrounding environment polluting the land and waterways.