Huge fines for litter louts

Beware of tossing a cigarette butt out of your car window or spitting on the road as you may end up getting a hefty fine on the spot, officials warn. More than 4,500 individuals and companies have been fined for mindless littering, spitting on roads, tossing cigarette butts away and making the city unclean within the first five months of this year. The highest number of offences were related to the throwing of waste from vehicles followed by those spoiling the environment by putting rubbish outside their premises. Apart from other efforts like awareness campaigns to keep the roads clean, a team of 860, which includes volunteers from other departments like the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police, is also contributing towards the cleanliness endeavours. The team has been formed as part of the campaign to make people aware of Local Order No 11 of 2003, which prohibits throwing, depositing, draining, releasing or discharging any waste material in public places other than those designated for such purposes in any manner other than those approved by the competent department. Additionally disposal of building and demolition waste, of waste water, of used oil, in places other than those designated is not allowed. The fines range from Dh100 to Dh50,000 and recently the civic body also raised the fine for spitting betel (paan) juice from Dh500 to Dh1,000. “Sometimes people just do not care. Our idea is not to impose fines. We want to make them aware that they should make Dubai one of the cleanest cities,” said Abdul Majeed Saifaie, Director of Waste Management Department, Dubai Municipality. This year, more than 1,400 fines were imposed in March and over 1,200 in April. In 2011, the total number of fines was 10,474 which included 5,763 fines for throwing waste from vehicles, 2,467 fines for keeping waste outside premises and 514 fines for waste generated by vehicles. As many as 323 people were fined for spitting.