A new survey carried out by the research agency Wilke for Avisen shows that 72.2 percent of Danes would like to see stiffer penalties for people who drop rubbish in public spaces.
Some 26.1 percent believe littering is just a minor problem but could be punished harsher, while only 1.8 percent of all 1021 respondents do not think it is an issue at all.
“I can understand why people feel irritated when rubbish is being dropped around, because that’s not okay,” Pia Adel Steen, the environment rapporteur for Dansk Folkeparti, told Avisen.
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Only few fined
Today, litter louts can get a fine of 1,000 kroner.
However, only 36 offenders have been penalised for public littering over the past 8 years and only one person got a fine in 2015, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Morten Kabell, the deputy mayor for technical and environmental issues in Copenhagen, does not believe stiffer penalties would solve the problem.
“We should instead try to influence [people’s] attitudes to littering and also make it easy for Copenhageners to get rid of rubbish,” Kabell told Avisen.
Copenhagen pays about 200,000 kroner every year to keep the city clean.
