The thousands of cigarette butts that litter Oahu’s beaches are evidence of more than an addictive, expensive habit. They’re also signs that some smokers don’t care much about Hawaii’s natural environment, or, more charitably, don’t realize how much damage they do when they flick their leftovers wherever they want.

That’s why the community outreach now underway at beach parks across the island is so important. Education is paramount as the city prepares to prohibit smoking at all of Honolulu’s beaches starting Jan. 1, 2014, expanding a ban that’s been in place at most Waikiki beaches since July.

The no-smoking rule will extend to all Honolulu City and County parks — 300 in all, including the beach parks — and 4,000 bus stops. Playgrounds, tennis courts, swimming pools, botanical gardens and recreational areas all are included. But the beaches are getting special attention in terms of community outreach, which is warranted and should continue long after the expanded ban takes effect.

Volunteers from environmental and anti-smoking groups have been walking along the shoreline, letting visitors know about the coming ban, and, at Waikiki beaches where the rule is already in effect, collecting the cigarette butts that most scofflaws — once alerted — willingly extinguish and correctly discard.

It’s going to take such a concerted effort, over the long term, to enlighten Oahu’s transient tourist population, especially, about the importance of following this law. This isn’t a matter for sporadic enforcement of $100 fines, but for raised community consciousness. Learning more about the threat cigarette debris poses to Hawaii’s natural environment may inspire some smokers to change what for too many is not only an unhealthy habit, but a careless one.

Proof of that is clear. Beach cleanup crews on Oahu consistently pick up more cigarette butts than any other single type of trash. Volunteers clearing rubbish at Kakaako Waterfront Park in March, for example, collected 11,000 cigarette butts, according to the Surfrider Foundation Hawaii. And that’s only what remains on shore. Many butts wash into the ocean, where they are ingested by endangered green sea turtles and other marine life.

Some smokers erroneously believe that the cigarette butts are biodegradable, when in fact they are made of plastic and toxic materials that do not break down, and which can leach into the ocean. Heightened awareness can go a long way to change the behavior of smokers who are merely uninformed, a group that surely includes many visitors.

The same cannot be said for smoking-rights advocates who have heard the health and environmental information and remain unswayed. Some of these Hawaii-based activists vow to skirt the law by going into the ocean to smoke. After all, at most of the beach parks, the city’s jurisdiction does not extend past the shoreline high-water mark.

It will be a shame if that threat comes to pass. Come Jan. 1, Hono-lulu finally joins 150 other American cities that ban smoking on public beaches. For the only island capital in the U.S., it’s better late than never.