The Malta Independent 30 August 2026, Sunday
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Paris to slap €68 fine to anyone who throws cigarette butt on pavement

Associated Press Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 19:10 Last update: about 12 years ago

The city of Paris, littered with 350 tons of cigarette butts each year, is striking back at smokers with a new 68-euro fine.

Starting Thursday, anyone caught flicking their butt onto the pavement should be ticketed. City hall is calling on all businesses to help enforce the rule — "to amplify the fight against this daily incivility," and authorities have installed 30,000 new garbage bins this year with built-in ashtrays.

Butts not only cause "visual pollution," city hall said in a statement, but also contain toxic products that could spread into soil and water.

Smoking has been banned in French public buildings, restaurants and bars since 2008, but nearly 30 percent of French people still smoke regularly.

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