France: a fine of 135 euros against waste jets on the public highway

This photo taken on April 10, 2020 shows latex gloves and a mask thrown on a sidewalk in Lille, in the north of France, during the pandemic of the new coronavirus. DENIS CHARLET / AFP

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135 euros: it will very soon be the fine incurred for throwing a mask, a cigarette butt or another waste on the public highway announced this Sunday June 7, the Secretary of State for the Ecological Transition, Brune Poirson.

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The fine could even go up to 375 euros, or even 750 euros if the police draw up a report and forward it to the court. The Secretary of State for the Ecological Transition , Brune Poirson announced this Sunday June 7 the increase to 135 euros, against 6 euros currently, of the fine for people throwing waste on the public highway.

This measure is part of the roadmap for the circular economy, launched in 2018. But with the many protective masks thrown in the street during this period of health crisis due to the coronavirus, it finds a new echo .

►Read: France: the masks abandoned on the sidewalks, an ecological and health problem

"  Everyone needs to understand that any waste thrown on the ground often ends up in the ocean,  " said Brune Poirson. The Secretary of State for the Ecological Transition went to a beach in Gironde to take part in a plastic waste collection on the eve of World Oceans Day. "  If you want clean seas and oceans, it starts with clean sidewalks  ," she said.

Masks take 400 years to decompose

The draft decree, which aims to punish garbage deposits more severely, should be presented in mid-June. The ministry also plans to intensify its communication campaigns to encourage people not to throw garbage anywhere because these masks take nearly 400 years to decompose.

But above all, leaving them in the open air, by throwing them on the ground in particular, poses an ecological and health problem. The public trash either is not necessarily the right reflex. You have to put it in a separate packaging like a plastic bag and wait 24 hours before throwing it in your own household waste.

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  • Waste
  • France
  • Coronavirus

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