French unveil new snow substitute in battle with declining snow levels:

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French ski resort wants smokers to butt out.

194 words
13 February 2004
A g e n c e F r a n c e P r e s s e



One of France's most popular ski resorts has launched a campaign
against cigarette butts, saying the hundreds of thousands of unsightly
stubs thrown each year in the snow pose a serious environmental
hazard.

Val Thorens - a popular destination in the Alps for British and Dutch
tourists in particular - said the campaign, started Sunday, was not an
anti-smoking initiative but rather an effort to reduce the number of
cigarette butts that blight the pristine mountainside.

Up to 30,000 butts are found under just one of the most heavily used
chairlifts, "enough to pollute 30,000 cubic metres (30,000 tonnes) of
water, or the volume of 500 private pools," said Johann Leiritz, an
official at the resort's tourist office.

To battle the habit, the office has built a glass box that will
display the thousands of cigarette butts picked up alongside an
exhibition showing the long-term environmental damage caused by
man-made trash.

Two thousand pocket containers designed to hold used cigarettes will
also be sold to skiers at the subsidised price of 1.50 euros (1.90
dollars).


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So far they have used Gauloise but in an effort to replicate the
powder found in the Rockies they will be trying Winston Lights nexts
season.


funk- "I think this calls for a cigarette...." - raum