More than 4,500 fines were issued for littering and improper garbage disposal in Taipei in less than two months, after the city increased fines and patrols to tackle a localized trash problem, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said on Tuesday.
In a meeting with Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) in July, Wanhua District (萬華) borough wardens proposed increasing patrols and installing more cameras to catch people littering, as they presented photographs of cockroach and rat infestations.
The department on Aug. 15 approved 12 more patrols in the district and increased the minimum fine from NT$1,200 or NT$2,400 depending on the offense to NT$3,600 for disposing of household trash in public bins, throwing cigarette butts on the ground and other forms of littering or environmental pollution.
Photo: Taipei Times
The NT$3,600 issued for one fine is the equivalent of 720 government-issued trash bags at NT$5 per 14-liter bag, the department said in a statement on Tuesday.
An average of 885 tickets for littering were issued monthly in the first seven months of the year, the department said.
Since stepping up patrols on Aug. 15 to Sept. 30, 1,529 littering tickets were issued for an average of 1,020 in a month, it added.
Wanhua borough wardens believe that the initiative has helped improve the district’s littering problem, Environmental Cleaning and Maintenance Division Director Teng Sung-chun (鄧淞駿) said on Wednesday.
Although they are small, cigarette butts have an outsized impact on the environment, as the thousands of chemicals burned off while lit concentrate in the butts and the filters contain plastic, the department said.
Discarded cigarette butts are not only an eyesore, but the toxins they contain can also enter the water supply and make their way into the food chain, it said, recommending smokers to dispose of cigarette butts in proper locations or bring a portable ashtray with them.
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