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River Edge Mayor and Council Pass Smoking Ban in Playgrounds

Smoking ban extends to borough owned tennis courts, ball fields and athletic facilities.

River Edge joins the ranks of many New Jersey communities that have enacted laws or policies restricting smoking in their parks and recreational areas.

During Monday's meeting, the Mayor and Council unanimously passed a smoking ban in all borough owned playgrounds, tennis courts, ball fields and athletic facilities.

The ban was supported by Tobacco Free for a Healthy New Jersey, an organization that seeks environmental policy and social change regarding tobacco exposure, use and prevention. According to TFFHNJ, outdoor smoking is a public health hazard because exposure to secondhand smoke, even if it is outdoors, can be harmful to nonsmokers.

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Smoking materials--such as cigarette butts and matches--harm the environment. A ban eliminates the chances that cigarette butts discarded on the ground will be ingested by children and animals, reduces litter and costs for clean-up and reduces accidental fires caused by discarded cigarette butts in forests and parks.

In addition to Bergen County owned parks and recreational facilities, other Bergen County towns that have a ban on smoking in parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities are: Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, Closter, East Rutherford, Elmwood Park, Fort Lee, Franklin Lakes, Garfield, Leonia, Mahwah, Moonachie, North Arlington, Old Tappan, Oradell, Palisade Park, Paramus, Ridgefield, River Vale, South Hackensack, Teaneck, Waldwick, Westwood and Wood-Ridge.

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