'Fined' Lm1,000 for washing pavement with soapy water

Next time you wash your pavement with soapy water or accidentally drop a bottle of wine on the ground outside you may well be slapped with a whopping Lm1,000 fine unless some green wardens restrain their zeal to punish litter bugs.

Incredible but true. These are only two of about 16 examples of exaggerated fines that have so far been issued by wardens during the trial period of the new littering and dumping fines regime.

The list is included in a briefing report drawn up by the Environment Ministry and the Central Information and Management Unit (CIMU).

The report is intended to point out such glitches and review the ups and downs of the system during the trial period which ends this month. The idea is to learn from the experience before the fines proper start being dished out come January.

So far, all the "fines" issued have been warnings but they will have to be paid along with any other fine by anyone caught committing a second infringement next year.

The brief reveals the scale of some of the mistakes committed by the wardens.

Among the heftiest "fines" issued "erroneously", the report lists Lm1,000 served on someone who was washing a pavement with soapy water. Although such practice is not allowed under the new regulations, it should attract a littering fine of between Lm25 and Lm50.

The report calls on wardens "to be practical in such cases".

Dumping two cars or building material should attract fines in the dumping category (Lm1,000 - Lm2,500). Yet, in such cases, the perpetrators were served with Lm25 fines.

An individual was fined Lm1,000 for dumping tyres and wood in a skip and others were fined the same amount for dropping a wine bottle on the floor and "looking for things in the garbage".

The report does not dispute the legitimacy of the fine in the wine incident but the amount. Like throwing soapy water on the pavement, the offence falls under the littering section not dumping, as does "looking in the garbage".

The report also comments on a series of Lm25 fines given to people for placing items on the floor while carrying out a job. A maintenance person, for example, was fined for leaving tools on the floor and a florist for placing flowers on the floor.

The report notes that such cases did not fall within the remit of the Littering Act and that the fines should not have been issued. It clarifies a number of circumstances in order to establish a level platform for implementation of the littering regulations.

It recommends, for example, that people taking garbage bags outdoors before collection time stipulated by most local councils should not be fined, as was done during the trial period. However, people who do so at night or after collection hours should be punished.

The same sort of discretion was advised for car washing and feeding animals in public areas. While both are deemed an offence, the report calls on the wardens to tackle the manner "in a practical manner".