TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The city of Kaohsiung issued NT$39.6 million (US$1.4 million) in fines to people who litter in public areas last year, with 63 percent of the cases being reported by informants.

According to statistics released by the Kaohsiung City Environmental Protection Bureau on Saturday (Jan. 30), 27,418 cases of littering were reported in 2020. Among them, there were 14,077 instances of discarded cigarette butts, 5,050 trash disposals in public areas, and 2,575 were related to people spitting betel nut juice on streets.

The bureau said trash informants were given more than NT$5.46 million for 17,438 reports of litter last year. It added the top three informants who reported the most offenses each received NT$430,000, NT$360,000, and 330,000, respectively.

Meanwhile, the bureau said the number of registered members in its littering reporting system has grown from 1,000 to 7,000. It urged local residents to stop discarding garbage and polluting the city as this will result in fines, in accordance with the Waste Disposal Act, reported CNA.