Holidaymakers are being fined thousands of euros for taking souvenirs of sand from Sardinian beaches




The Mediterranean island is famous for its beautiful quartz sand beaches at Mari Ermi and Is Arutas.But islanders are fed up with tourists trying to take a piece of the beach home with them.

According to officials at Elmas airport in the capital of Cagliari, more than 5 tonnes of sand was seized from passengers during just three summer months in 2015.

To deal with the problem, the island enacted a law. Effective from 1 August 2017, tourists caught trying to “take, keep or sell small quantities without permission” face hefty fines ranging from €500 to €3,000 . The law also applies to seashells and stones found on its beaches.


Politicians passed the law following persistent complaints and concerns from locals. A Facebook group, called “Sardinia robbed and plundered”, was even set up.
The Facebook page long called for action on the theft of its natural assets, calling it a “crime” and that legal intervention was paramount for the “protection and safeguarding of our natural heritage”.

It shares pictures of plastic bottles and bags filled with beach artefacts and shames tourists caught in the act.

The theft has been a sore point for locals for a long time. In 1994, the BBC reports, access to the renowned pink beach on the Budelli island to the northeast of Sardinia was banned amid concerns about its future.

The island’s forestry corps says Sardinia’s beaches were created over millions of years.

“Taking away a little bottle may not seem a big deal. But if all the millions of tourists did it, tonnes and tonnes would disappear every year,” they say, according to the BBC.