From January 17th the new fines for spitting or urinating on the street, leaving rubbish outside containers, and smoking on beaches, all come into force. These breaches were all laid out in the ‘municipal ordinance for waste management and cleaning of public spaces’ which was approved on Boxing Day, and will take effect in Santa Cruz just three days before this year’s Carnival is launched.
The new ordinance, which is published on the Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz website, introduces fines of up to 3,000 euros for very serious offences; 1,500 for serious infractions, and 750 for minor breaches.
Fines for littering or smoking on beaches:
Individual will be fined for leaving litter or smoking on the sand or rocks at beaches or bathing areas, except in designated areas, and beach bars, kiosks, restaurants, and businesses operating on the beaches, will be fined for not providing bins, or the necessary elements to avoid the production of rubbish, and for the use of single-use plastics.
Misuse of rubbish bins and containers in general:
According to this ordinance, misuse of rubbish containers and using them for purposes other than those planned will be fined, as will not extinguishing cigars, cigarettes or other ‘lit elements’ before depositing them in the bins set up for this purpose.
Sanctions are also provided for depositing waste outside the containers, extracting, searching, or collecting waste once it is made available to municipal services, and depositing by-products of animal origin referring to whole bodies or parts of animals, products of animal origin or other products obtained from animals, which are not intended for human consumption.
Dumping waste directly without bagging will be penalized, except in the cases expressly provided for (glass and paper/cardboard), or liquid waste in containers.
Regarding public space, you will be fined if you throw away or deposit any kind of waste that produces litter or is contrary to cleanliness, such as chewing gum, sweets, wrappers and other similar items.
In addition, the dumping of dirty water from cleaning carried out in public spaces, wells or public garden areas, throwing any kind of waste from vehicles, and fixing, or cleaning vehicles on public roads will be penalized.
The City Council will also penalize the owners of shops if the space outside their frontage is dirty, even if it is from cleaning windows etc, as well as the space around kiosks, street stalls, lottery cabins, cafe terraces, bars and restaurants, where the person who owns the activity will be responsible keeping the area affected by their activity clean.
Throwing any kind of leaflets, pamphlets, posters, or similar advertising materials onto public roads, as well as placing them in vehicles parked on public roads, street furniture, trees, fences and walls, will also be subject to fines.
Fines for feeding stray animals:
Likewise, the ordinance includes sanctions for providing any type of food to non-domestic animals, particularly pigeons, rats, and stray cats, with the exception of duly authorized feeders of urban animals.
In this regard, depositing dead animals or their remains in waste containers will also lead to fines, as well as abandoning them in any public space, and not collecting the droppings evacuated by a domestic animal in public spaces.
Graffiti or defacing public property:
Make any kind of graffiti, scribbles, writings, inscriptions or graphics with any material, or scratching the surface on any element of the public space, as well as on the exterior of equipment, infrastructures or elements of public service and facilities in general, including public transport, equipment, street furniture, trees, gardens and public roads, in general, will also be penalized.
