With temperatures expected to reach 30 degrees this weekend, hundreds of sunscreen dispensers have been placed around the country to help festival goers and day trippers to protect their skin for free.

Local councils, sports clubs and schools have been installing dispensers in parks and other public places bought from suppliers such as Sundo and Smeerkees, who have seen demand for the dispensers grow over the last few years.

“It’s not cheap, a couple of thousand euros, but we feel the health of locals and visitors is important,’ alderman in coastal resort Katwijk Jacco Knappe told broadcaster NOS. ‘We see an above average number of people in Katwijk who are sunning themselves without protection and that is not a good thing.”

Hospital VieCuri in Venlo-Venray found a cheaper way of promoting the use of sunscreen by recycling redundent Covid desinfectant dispensers. The hospital is working with cancer charity KWF and has provided dispensers to some 120 primary schools in Limburg to help raise early awareness about the dangers of exposure to the sun’s harmful rays.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the Netherlands. ‘Sunscreen is one of the best ways of preventing it,’ hospital spokeswoman Liset Spreuwenberg told the broadcaster. ‘We are not sunscreen producers but as a hospital we have a responsibility to share the knowledge we have about how best to prevent skin cancer.”