Fined cigarette droppers decline

Seoul City saw a rapid decrease in the number of fined cigarette droppers last year after starting a no-litter campaign in 2007, officials said Monday.

The city collected about 6.2 billion won ($5.7 million) in fines from 176,069 litterbugs in 2010, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The figure was the smallest since 2007 when the city launched a campaign against flicking cigarette butts on the streets in all of its 25 districts.

Compared to 2009, the number of litterbugs declined 34.4 percent while the amount of fines was almost cut in half.

Gangnam-gu was the first district to impose fines on cigarette droppers in January 2007. Other district offices followed suit in the coming months. Fines vary by the district in the capital, ranging from 25,000 to 50,000 won.

In 2010, Gangnam-gu imposed the largest number of fines among Seoul districts, with 14,068 cases taking up almost half the total litterbugs. It was followed by Jongno-gu with 2,148, Songpa-gu with 2,102 and Jung-gu with 1,566.

Those throwing cigarettes from car windows also declined from 7,116 in 2009 to 6,089 last year, the city said.

In a bid to ensure clean streets, the city plans to add ashtrays alongside waste bins on the streets.

From this month, the city started to impose a fine of 100,000 won on those caught smoking in three downtown squares ― Seoul, Cheonggye Stream and Gwanghwamun.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)