In TAIWAN
IF THE green cops have their way, those who smoke while they walk in Taiwan may find themselves poorer by as much as S$300.
Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has declared pre-emptive war on would-be litterbugs by proposing a fine on those who smoke in public without being close to an ashbin or carrying a tin for cigarette butts.
But this 'fine' move was deemed so incredible in free and easy-going Taiwan that it grabbed Page 1 headlines in two major newspapers here, possibly causing many a fag to drop from the mouths of stunned smokers.
While the EPA cited a survey showing that 58 per cent of about 1,000 people asked support the ban, there is considerable difficulty in enforcing it.
How close must a smoker be to an ashbin to escape a fine, some ask. Would there be enough policemen around to nab errant smokers, others wonder.
Those who guard their rights shudder at the possibility that body searches might be conducted to determine if someone is carrying an ash tin and judged to be smoking by the rules.
Trying to snub out the spiraling unease, an EPA spokesman said the fine was meant more as a deterrent, conceding that enforcement might prove tricky.
But the authorities can take comfort from the success they have had so far in reducing the number of smokers in Taiwan.
There are about 3.61 million smokers in Taiwan, down from 3.94 million after a ban on indoor smoking kicked in here last year (09).
While the difficulty of enforcing the ban on those who smoke while walking has sparked derision, the hazard of discarded cigarette butts is no laughing matter.
Each year, cleaners in Taiwan pick up at least 10 million such butts.
Many a carelessly discarded cigarette stub has also added to the load of cleaners in Singapore and caused many smokers to end up with a broom and Corrective Work Order vest.
All across the world, such butts amount to a huge headache for the authorities. In cities like San Francisco in the United States, these make up at least one-quarter of the litter on the streets, the New York Times reported last May (09).
Many American cities have banned smoking from public places like the beach, while San Francisco has proposed a tax on cigarettes to help pay for the US$11 million that the city spends yearly to get rid of cigarette thrash.
Many people casually toss away their cigarette butts as they mistakenly believe that these are biodegradable. But most contain plastic filters that take years to be broken down and release toxins into the environment.
Ultimately, the problem may boil down to poor product design.
As Mr Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco mayor Gary Newsom, told the NYT, "There is no good practical way of dealing with cigarettes."
"You have a fiery object in your hand and so you have to throw it down and crush it under your heel. And then we have to clean it up."