Cigarette litter crackdown sees 13 people fined

A CRACKDOWN on smoking-related litter in Carmarthenshire saw 13 people fined in just one day. The council’s environmental enforcement officers carried out targeted patrols in Llanelli, Ammanford and Carmarthen town centres. In total, seven fixed penalty notices for £75 were issued in Llanelli, two in Ammanford and four in Carmarthen. Failure to pay could result in prosecution in the magistrates court and a maximum fine of up to £2,500.

 

 Two young people under the age of 17 – one in Llanelli and one in Carmarthen – were also given warnings. It follows a council campaign to highlight the problem of smoking-related litter and encourage people to put their cigarette butts in the bin. Unfortunately, the message does not seem to be getting through. Director of Technical Services Richard Workman said: “We do not want to fine people, but we will not hesitate to do so if they continue to litter in this way. Many people do not think of cigarette ends as litter, but they are. They make an area look unsightly and they are difficult and very expensive to clean up – the ends fall into grates and cracks in the pavement which makes them almost impossible to remove by normal cleaning.”

According to Keep Wales Tidy, the smoking ban saw a 72% increase on smoking-related litter on the streets with 200 million cigarettes discarded daily. In fact, research shows that discarded cigarette ends make up the largest proportion of litter in Carmarthenshire, with 83% of all litter found on the county’s streets smoking-related. Executive Board Member for the Environment Councillor Philip Hughes said: “We have received a number of complaints about smoking-related litter in the town centres. Hopefully these fines will act as a warning to others that this type of anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

“We are determined to improve the quality of the environment in Carmarthenshire for both residents and visitors and if that means fining people, then so be it.”