Rome mayor authorizes kids to fine parents who don't recycle

(ANSA) - Rome, April 17 - Rome is planning to turn children into recycling vigilantes within the home, Mayor Ignazio Marino said Thursday.
    ''Children are learning about trash recycling at school, and we want to enlist them in raising the awareness of their parents as well'', the mayor told a radio interviewer.
    ''We're thinking about giving them a kind of mayor's card, authorizing them to fine parents who neglect to separate their trash for recycling.
    ''We want to recycle more and more, and I thank citizens because we have reached a 40% level of trash separation for this purpose'', he added.
    Rome authorities started a new citywide trash recycling program in 2012, distributing bins for paper, glass, plastic and metal, and non-recyclable trash.
    Everyone is required by law to separate out their rubbish before taking it to curbside dumpsters, although often trash that should be separated is often contaminated with other materials.