Cigarette butts on the ground: fines start tomorrow. And they'll be hefty.

CIGARETTE BUTTS FINE –

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday February 2nd, things get serious. They enter into forceIn fact, the new rules that punish, with sanctions from the traffic police, who throws a butt di cigarette on the streets, on the sidewalks, in public gardens. A fine of 60 to 300 euros. This should be enough to deter this wasteful, uncivilized habit.

ALSO READ: A Sicilian pensioner's wonderful initiative to rid the beach of cigarette butts.

WHAT THE LAW PROVIDES –

The law, which also serves to discourage cigarette consumption which is unfortunately on the rise, also provides the absolute ban on smoking in the car while driving, and in any case when there is a minor or a woman in the car pregnancyFines here can range from 50 to 500 euros.

What can we say? We are against overly punitive and persistent regulations, even on such basic civic behaviors. But This law was essential, where in Italy we have reached the point of throwing away, every year, something like 72 billion cigarette butts, 40 percent of which end up polluting the environment. sea and the beaches.

DO NOT THROW CIGARETTE BUTTS ON THE GROUND –

At this point two things are neededThe first one concerns the traffic police, who will have to enforce the rulesLet's hope they do it with the same zeal with which they hand out tickets to motorists. The second, however, refers to the needs of the ashtray to installThe law itself says so, referring to "frequent containers," but with necessarily generic wording. This could be done: with the proceeds from fines, municipal administrations could provide streets with designer ashtrays and improve sidewalk cleanliness. There would be no better way to spend the money earned thanks to uncivilized citizens.

TO KNOW MORE: The second life of cigarette butts, no longer on the ground but in our closets