All municipalities in Barcelona region ban smoking on beaches except Badalona and Castelldefels

Almost all municipalities in the Barcelona region have started the summer bathing season with smoking bans on the sandy shores.

A total of 24 of the 26 coastal municipalities in the Barcelona province have approved bylaws, or are about to do so, to ban smoking on the beach.

The only exceptions are Badalona and Castelldefels, "which for political reasons consider that it is not appropriate now," according to the Provincial Council's delegate president for Public Health, Josep-Ramon Mut.

Mut has defended the ban on smoking “because beaches must be clean natural spaces and to guarantee health in increasingly crowded places.”

The health official takes for granted that lawmakers in the Catalan parliament will eventually pass a law to ban smoking on the beach.

Mut assesses that 24 out of 26 municipal councils signing up to the smoking ban “is a huge success.”

The cleanliness of the shore and the preservation of health are the main reasons for the initiative, but Mut also explains that receding sand reduces the amount of space to share, adding to the “suffering” of non-smokers who ingest smoke passively.

In the case of Badalona, ​​municipal sources say the council “is not against smoke-free beaches” and instead in the future, say they will “assess” whether to start banning smoking on some sections of the beach.

For its part, sources in Castelldefels say the council is not in favor of “banning” citizens from smoking on the beach through a restrictive ordinance, “but rather that it is believed more appropriate to recommend that it not be done.”