For the first time in Europe, a ski resort bans smoking on the slopes, and that’s good news

” We may get some criticism, but it goes with the flow of the story », believes Benjamin Mugnier. The commercial director of Les Gets confided in the Parisian Up smoking ban established on December 17 in this Haute-Savoie ski resort. The resort of Les Gets is therefore the first in Europe to ban the consumption of tobacco on the slopes.

To preserve the environment

The concerns of Les Gets to defend this measure were not only of public health order, but also of the environment. ” The trigger was when we collected 3,000 cigarette butts while cleaning the slopes in the spring with Mountain Riders », explains Benjamin Mugnier. “ A single cigarette butt pollutes up to 500 liters of water with 150 toxic substances. It takes fifteen years to decompose. It’s dramatic. Especially since any pollution that starts from the mountains goes down to the sea adds Émilie Maisonnasse, head of the Zero Waste 2030 program within this environmental association.

A public health problem

Those who have nothing to do with the protection of the planet will perhaps be sensitive to the benefits that this measure will have on the young neighbors of the chairlift. ” This is an additional incentive to quit smoking. Also, the Cancer League is helping us for this first time. And for non-smokers, especially children, it will reduce secondhand smoke in queues or on elevators “says Benjamin Mugnier.

Lovers can rest assured, if they really have difficulty tolerating the mountain air, they can always smoke on the terraces of the high-altitude restaurants, or in the 5 dedicated areas scattered throughout the area. ” In the first place », the station ” relies on the self-regulation of skiers » to respect the ban on smoking everywhere, but beware of the gendarmes who will chase you on a red track just to give you a fine.

Front page photo credit: © PatrickBlaise from Pixabay via Canva.