Bangkok: Thailand is introducing a smoking ban on Popular beaches across the country including Phuket and those caught violating the law will face up to a year in prison.

The measure will apply to up to 20 popular tourist beaches found to be constantly littered with huge numbers of discarded cigarette butts, according to the chief of marine and coastal resources.

The ban, which will come into effect next month, will apply to beaches in the provinces of Phuket, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri and Songkhla and included the popular resorts of Koh Samui and Pattaya, the Bangkok Post reported. The move came after the country's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) said it had retrieved tens of thousands of cigarette butts left in the sand.

The DMCR said the discarded waste made up a third of all rubbish collected. The head of the department, Jatuporn Buruspat, said that up to 138,000 cigarette butts had been collected by the environmental group over a 2.5 km stretch of Patong beach in Phuket.