PARIS (dpa-AFX) – Anyone throwing used masks, gloves or other rubbish on the street in France will soon have to dig deep into their pockets. The government plans to increase the penalty from 68 to 135 euros. “The plastic waste from the Covid-19 crisis reminds us that clean oceans start with clean sidewalks,” Secretary of State for the Environment, Brune Poirson, wrote on Twitter on Sunday. A draft regulation now provides for the punishment to be doubled.
According to media reports, masks against corona or gloves have been thrown onto the sidewalk in France in recent weeks. “Used masks, gloves, and handkerchiefs are potentially infected waste,” Poirson told the Ouest France newspaper in late May. In some cases, the penalty could even be increased up to 750 euros. According to the “Journal du Dimanche”, the draft also concerns cigarette butts, cans and other rubbish that is carelessly thrown away.
In Germany, the penalties are regulated by the federal states. Anyone who throws away handkerchiefs or paper cups usually pays a fine in the low double-digit range ./nau/DP/he
