Ashtray

Three in four businesses in Greece have fallen into line with the decade-old smoking ban since the government made its enforcement in all indoor public spaces one of its top priorities and imposed stricter fines for violations.

Starting next year the fine for throwing a cigarette butt in Brussels will be increased from 50 to 200 euros, according to the mayoralty of the Belgian capital.

The city's cleanliness office is launching a plan to raise awareness among smokers, install urban ashtrays, as well as to launch a project for the utilisation of  cigarette butts via pocket ashtrays, the service said.

In an effort to reduce the amount of litter in the streets, the municipality of Athens adopted the interactive "Gopa project" which urges smokers to vote on a number of topics by throwing their cigarette butts in containers installed around the city.

A collaboration between the Municipality of Serifos and the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation aims to make the island's Vagia beach the first smoke-free one in the country.
The project envisages the creation of a designated area for smokers, with ashtrays bearing environmental messages aimed at sensitizing visitors to the polluting impact of cigarette stubs.

A cigar once smoked by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has sold for 10,000 euros, according to the Boston-based RR Auction house.
Churchill partially smoked the 4in (10cm) cigar at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris on 11 May 1947.
It was sold on Wednesday night to a collector in Palm Beach, Florida. The buyer’s name was not released.