Bill to penalize those who do not throw cigarette butts in specific places

Two objectives are sought: on the one hand, and insofar as it is related to the protection of the environment, it establishes sanctions for those who throw cigarette butts in areas not intended for the disposal of this waste. It also makes it mandatory to install specific ashtrays on the outskirts of establishments where there is significant movement of people, such as shopping malls, banks, hospitals, restaurants, bowling alleys or bus stops, as well as public and private offices.
In our country and according to the data extracted from the last INE household survey, 20% of the adult population of our country consumes tobacco. This represents approximately 500,000 people who identify themselves as smokers, with the health and environmental consequences that this implies. If we consider that an average smoker consumes up to ten cigarettes a day, 5,000,000 cigarette butts are generated per day in our country, of which two out of three are thrown into the environment.
“The project supposes to take another step in what makes the integral waste management promoted from Law No. 19,829, especially considering the general interest committed in the conservation of the environment”, Sartori expresses in the explanatory statement.
On the other hand, the anti-smoking measures are deepened, by proposing the expansion of the scope of the prohibition established in Law No. 18,256, adding as protected space those intended for use by minors, such as public squares. with games, zoos and fauna and flora reserves, amusement parks and attractions, as well as spaces dedicated to sports activities, among others.
The objective, according to Sartori, is to position Uruguay among the pioneers in the region in the management of butt residues in the city, added to the achievements already obtained in the fight against smoking.
According to the white senator, the fine is not the objective of the law, but what is sought with it is to discourage and persuade people not to throw this type of waste in the streets and dispose of it in the appropriate containers for it. .
“This will not be achieved only through the approval of the proposed rule, but will require joint work with the Departmental Governments (at all levels), and the generation of environmental awareness in society, but it is a sign of impulse from the Legislative Power”, assured the senator.
As established in the project, the control of conduct and the imposition of sanctions —which can range from 1 to 10 UR for people, and from 10 to 100 for establishments included in the norm that do not place the colilleros— will be left to charge of the Ministry of the Environment and the proceeds of the fines applied for violation of this rule, will be allocated to the FONAGRES created by article 45 of Law No. 19,829, intended for recycling.
Likewise, the project contemplates that public or private institutions interested in the environmental management of cigarettes, butts and/or cigarette filters, can make agreements with the establishments where the butts are located, for the collection and recycling of these wastes.