Discarded smokes in Paris to bring fine

PARIS, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- City authorities in Paris say smokers who discard their cigarette butts on city streets could be fined $45 under a plan to cut litter in the City of Lights.

The number of discarded cigarette butts has increased as smokers have taken to puffing outdoors following a ban on indoor smoking instituted in 2008, The Local reported Wednesday.

About 315 tons of cigarette butts, or megots as they are known in French, are collected each year, authorities said.

"A cigarette butt is very toxic and takes several years to degrade," Francois Dagnaud, the man in charge of the city's cleanliness, said.

City authorities say they've installed 2,000 public ashtrays in the streets and plan to have up to 30,000 in place by 2014.