Fight Against Littering
Littering in public places (littering) and vandalism are social problems that reflect negatively on the quality of life, the sense of safety in public spaces, the image of the city, and the cost of cleaning up. Therefore, the commitment to combat these phenomena concerns everyone: citizens, merchants and municipalities.
Those who disrespect public spaces and administrative property through vandalism and littering behaviors are punishable by fines provided by an ordinance on the preservation of public land.
Awareness Activities
To counter these phenomena, the City promotes educational measures in schools and various awareness campaigns throughout the territory, such as:
- Campagna di cortesia (Courtesy Campaign): designed to highlight the value of public space, it explains the rules of behavior for bicycles, dogs, small litter, and nighttime noise. The handbook of basic rules for good coexistence Conoscerle per non sentirle (Know them to not feel them) is available.
- Clean Up Day: a day of awareness against littering, organized every year, during which a group of volunteers equipped with gloves and garbage bags do the "spring cleaning" in the city.
- Il diario di Cedro - campagna antilittering 2016 (Cedro's Diary - 2016 Anti-Littering Campaign): followed the walks of a friendly little dog at "littering height" to raise awareness against the reckless abandonment of waste on the city's streets.
- Giornate insubriche del verde pubblico (Insubric Public Green Days): involve cleaning actions engaging the population and schools in the fight against littering in public places.
Parks, pathways, squares, and streets "are not your ashtray" was the slogan of an additional awareness campaign called Uniti contro l’abbandono dei mozziconi nell’ambiente (United Against the Abandonment of Cigarette Butts in the Environment), promoted with the Cantonal Waste Company, the Swiss Non-Smokers Association, and British American Tobacco Switzerland.
Label no littering
Thanks to awareness activities on the topic of littering and the introduction of targeted measures that keep the situation under control, Lugano is among the first institutions to have received the "No Littering City" label awarded by the IGSU - Interest Group for a Clean Environment and a Better Quality of Life.
Fines
The City can initiate contravention proceedings against those who do not respect public property, based on the principle of causality (Art. 2 of the Federal Act on the Protection of the Environment), according to which the polluter pays, and in this specific case, those who litter and deface pay.
Those who do not respect public property are punishable with a fine of up to CHF 10,000.-, in addition to bearing the costs of cleaning and/or restoration.
The English version of this page was created with the aid of automatic translation tools and may contain errors and omissions.
The original version is the page in Italian.