One day as I was following a porter with my luggage through the Madinah airport, he turned his head and spat on the floor inside the terminal. When I expressed my shock and disgust at his rude behavior, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn’t help it.
I chalked up the incident to someone who was not educated and somehow missed that part of his upbringing that teaches most of us that spitting on the ground is really poor social etiquette, not to mention exposing people to all sorts of viruses.
The same can be said for the strangers I see almost every day — Saudis and expats alike — who throw garbage on the sidewalk or street and sometimes out of moving cars as if my neighborhood is their own personal garbage bin.
Such behavior speaks volumes about our society and how citizens and residents of our country have such low regard for our environment, our neighbors and our self-esteem. If we thought highly of ourselves, respected our neighbors and truly respected our country, we wouldn’t literally trash it and spit upon it in public places. Seriously, folks, this is the land of the Two Holy Mosques. What are you thinking?
With the amount of travel Saudis do these days, it’s a wonder that some people haven’t picked up on the fact that most of the countries they visit — especially in Europe and Malaysia — have clean streets and public spaces. It’s a sensibility that any educated person would bring home.
Long overdue, but welcomed nonetheless, are two laws recently passed that address the issues of spitting in public and being a litterbug. The director of the Traffic Department announced recently that fines of SR100 to SR150 will be levied against people caught spitting or throwing trash into the street.
Police officers witnessing such behavior can fine offenders. Citizens or expats can also use an app called “We are All Safe” to report offenders.
Traffic officials said police officers receive numerous complaints and suggestions about litterbugs, including demands that fines should be larger than what has been established.
Establishing anti-spitting and anti-littering laws are not just developing a community’s standard to live by, but also addresses the issue of spreading diseases. According to Saudi authorities, spitting and throwing trash from cars causes 70 percent of the viral diseases, including tuberculosis. It is especially dangerous to people using public spaces. TB, for example, has a particularly resistant nature that can live for months, especially in low-light areas that don’t receive exposure from the sun.
In fact, GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, spend as much as 10 percent of their gross domestic product on fighting pollution.
According to EcoMENA, which tracks waste management issues in the Middle East and North Africa regions, Saudi Arabia’s 29 million people generate more than 15 million tons of solid waste each year — that’s 1.5 to 1.8 kilos per person each day. In addition, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam together generate 6 million tons of solid waste annually.
To make matters worse, only 10 to 15 percent of solid waste is recycled since it’s only an informal program in the Kingdom. Further, there are few, if any waste disposal facilities to ease the burden of using only landfills.
Since true solid waste management programs that address the amount of garbage accumulating in the streets and the inadequate number of bins in city neighborhoods remain in primitive states, the issue of keeping the country’s population from littering is vital to the public health. If anything, the anti-spitting and anti-littering laws should have more teeth with greater fines and even jail time for offenders to send a message that Saudi Arabia will no longer tolerate endangering public health with thoughtless and offensive behavior.
I chalked up the incident to someone who was not educated and somehow missed that part of his upbringing that teaches most of us that spitting on the ground is really poor social etiquette, not to mention exposing people to all sorts of viruses.
The same can be said for the strangers I see almost every day — Saudis and expats alike — who throw garbage on the sidewalk or street and sometimes out of moving cars as if my neighborhood is their own personal garbage bin.
Such behavior speaks volumes about our society and how citizens and residents of our country have such low regard for our environment, our neighbors and our self-esteem. If we thought highly of ourselves, respected our neighbors and truly respected our country, we wouldn’t literally trash it and spit upon it in public places. Seriously, folks, this is the land of the Two Holy Mosques. What are you thinking?
With the amount of travel Saudis do these days, it’s a wonder that some people haven’t picked up on the fact that most of the countries they visit — especially in Europe and Malaysia — have clean streets and public spaces. It’s a sensibility that any educated person would bring home.
Long overdue, but welcomed nonetheless, are two laws recently passed that address the issues of spitting in public and being a litterbug. The director of the Traffic Department announced recently that fines of SR100 to SR150 will be levied against people caught spitting or throwing trash into the street.
Police officers witnessing such behavior can fine offenders. Citizens or expats can also use an app called “We are All Safe” to report offenders.
Traffic officials said police officers receive numerous complaints and suggestions about litterbugs, including demands that fines should be larger than what has been established.
Establishing anti-spitting and anti-littering laws are not just developing a community’s standard to live by, but also addresses the issue of spreading diseases. According to Saudi authorities, spitting and throwing trash from cars causes 70 percent of the viral diseases, including tuberculosis. It is especially dangerous to people using public spaces. TB, for example, has a particularly resistant nature that can live for months, especially in low-light areas that don’t receive exposure from the sun.
In fact, GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, spend as much as 10 percent of their gross domestic product on fighting pollution.
According to EcoMENA, which tracks waste management issues in the Middle East and North Africa regions, Saudi Arabia’s 29 million people generate more than 15 million tons of solid waste each year — that’s 1.5 to 1.8 kilos per person each day. In addition, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam together generate 6 million tons of solid waste annually.
To make matters worse, only 10 to 15 percent of solid waste is recycled since it’s only an informal program in the Kingdom. Further, there are few, if any waste disposal facilities to ease the burden of using only landfills.
Since true solid waste management programs that address the amount of garbage accumulating in the streets and the inadequate number of bins in city neighborhoods remain in primitive states, the issue of keeping the country’s population from littering is vital to the public health. If anything, the anti-spitting and anti-littering laws should have more teeth with greater fines and even jail time for offenders to send a message that Saudi Arabia will no longer tolerate endangering public health with thoughtless and offensive behavior.
