Sevilla to fine people 750 euros for rifling through bins
Thursday, October 30, 2014 @ 9:26 AM
RAIDING bins for food or reusable rubbish in Sevilla could attract a fine of up to 750 euros, city mayor Juan Ignacio Zoido warns.
Although considered a breach of local bye-laws since 2003, from the beginning of this week the fine has risen to 750 euros from its original 300.
Nowadays, with families stricken by long-term unemployment, it is far more common to see people filching through wheelie-bins on the streets for leftover food, discarded clothing, or items they could restore and sell.
Zoido says once rubbish has been dumped, it is 'council property' and likens rifling through to 'petty theft'.
The previous city council only considered it an offence to 'manipulate' rubbish in bins, but Zoido has extended the definition to include 'extraction of' or 'sifting through' refuse.
Zoido has also banned playing darts or dominoes in bars in the city, and those who do so will be fined.
Opposition councillors on the PSOE call the rubbish-rifling fines 'repugnant', pointing out that those who do so are 'only trying to satisfy a basic human need' – that of obtaining food.
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