SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A city across the bay from San Francisco plans to start charging fast food restaurants a fee to pay for cleaning up litter.
Elected leaders in the city of Oakland have backed a proposal to make take-out food businesses ranging from convenience stores to major hamburger chains such as McDonald's pay for public works crews to clean streets.
"We're just asking them to be good neighbors," said Jane Brunner, the city council member who crafted the ordinance.
The ordinance, which is expected to be finalized by summer, would create a three-tier fee structure based on the revenues of the businesses.
About three quarters of the city's take-out food shops are small, and would wind up paying about 60 cents (US) daily in litter fees, according to Brunner's office.
Major fast food restaurants would wind up paying an estimated 2,400 dollars (US) annually in litter fees.
The proposal includes a promise that police would do "litter stings" to catch trash tossers.
City officials are also to conduct anti-litter seminars at public schools, because they say that students leaving campus for lunch and then throwing wrappers aside carelessly on the way back to class is a major problem.
Elected leaders in the city of Oakland have backed a proposal to make take-out food businesses ranging from convenience stores to major hamburger chains such as McDonald's pay for public works crews to clean streets.
"We're just asking them to be good neighbors," said Jane Brunner, the city council member who crafted the ordinance.
The ordinance, which is expected to be finalized by summer, would create a three-tier fee structure based on the revenues of the businesses.
About three quarters of the city's take-out food shops are small, and would wind up paying about 60 cents (US) daily in litter fees, according to Brunner's office.
Major fast food restaurants would wind up paying an estimated 2,400 dollars (US) annually in litter fees.
The proposal includes a promise that police would do "litter stings" to catch trash tossers.
City officials are also to conduct anti-litter seminars at public schools, because they say that students leaving campus for lunch and then throwing wrappers aside carelessly on the way back to class is a major problem.
