City launches cleanup campaign on highways

Shanghai's transportation and sanitation agencies have launched a highway cleanup campaign, local media reported Sunday.

Several local government agencies, including the Shanghai Construction and Transportation Commission and the Shanghai City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Administration, held a ceremony to kick off the campaign at Shanghai Railway Station Sunday.

The event, attended by representatives of the city's taxi drivers and its private car owners, aimed to raise awareness of and encourage efforts to keep local highways clean, according to a report in the Xinmin Evening News.

The agencies plan to offer drivers garbage bags and waste bins that fit inside vehicles to prevent people from throwing garbage out of their vehicles and onto the roadways, according to the report.

The first 20,000 garbage bags were distributed at the city's toll stations Sunday.

According to local regulations, one can be fined between 5 yuan ($0.79) and 50 yuan for throwing trash out of car windows, yet cigarette butts and empty food containers remain a headache for highway cleanup crews.

Between six and eight tons of garbage appear on Shanghai's highways each day, according to statistics from the Shanghai Construction and Transportation Commission.