In the future, Bremen’s city cleaning service will have the authority to directly punish litter offenders. This is intended to reduce illegal dumping of waste at hotspots in the city.
The careless and illegal disposal of garbage in public spaces, known as “littering,” is a problem in Bremen. Cigarette butts, to-go cups, paper and glass pollute the city. In order to take tougher action against litter offenders, city cleaning employees will soon be able to impose fines directly. This was decided by the environmental deputation in its most recent meeting. “buten un binnen” first reported on this.
Up until now, the public order service was responsible for this, but due to a lack of capacity, it was rarely able to issue tickets. The new “waste investigators” will also be taking more action against large-scale illegal dumping of waste on streets and in green spaces. Regular checks will also be carried out at known, recurring “hot spots” and container sites. The aim of these actions is to catch perpetrators “red-handed”.
In the future, employees of the Bremen city cleaning service will be authorized to identify individuals and find clues to the perpetrators. The environment department estimates that this could result in almost 1,800 cases per year – a significant increase compared to previous figures. Currently, there are only around 150 cases per year.
However, it remains unclear whether the number of employees will actually be increased. The Bremen Senate recently imposed a hiring freeze, which could complicate plans to strengthen the “waste investigators”.
