Environmental offences

Dropped litter, that's when you really risk suspension of your driving licence

Is it true that throwing a cigarette butt out of a window is enough to lose your driving licence? No, but the crackdown in force since 9 August affects many cases

by Guido Camera

10 September 2025

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The waste squeeze introduced by the Dl.116/2025, in force since 9 August, also increases the responsibilities of road users. First of all, secondary penalties on the driving licence, to discourage offences committed with motor vehicles, severely limiting it. Then there is the tightening of penalties for littering. And it is clarified, compared to the past, when the rules of the Highway Code apply and when those of the Consolidated Environmental Act (Tua, Legislative Decree 152/2006) apply.

Non-hazardous waste

The new Article 255 of the Tua tightens the penal sanctions for abandoning or depositing non-hazardous waste. Until 9 August there was a fine from 1,000 to 10,000 euro; now it ranges from 1,500 to 18,000 euro. If the offence is committed by owners of companies or entities, imprisonment from six months to two years or a fine from 3 thousand to 26 thousand euro. For those who do it with a motor vehicle, there is also the suspension of the driving licence from one to four months.

If the conduct is more serious because it occurs in one of the 'special cases' listed in Article 255-bis of the Tua, the criminal sanction increases and the licence suspension is from two to six months.

The procedure is the same as that set out in the Highway Code for accessory penalties for offences: provisional suspension ordered by the Prefect, who decides on the report received from the investigating body. The measure is communicated to the National Register of Licensed Drivers and may be challenged within 30 days before the Justice of the Peace.

Small or smoking waste

Criminal sanctions and licence suspension are not triggered if the waste in question is very small or from smoke products. Here, however, there is an important distinction. In the past there was confusion: the same conduct was in fact punished by both the Highway Code and the Tua, with modest administrative fines. The new Article 255 of the Tua provides:

1) an administrative fine ranging from EUR 80 to EUR 320 for abandonment or depositing, on roads (as defined in Article 2 of the Highway Code) by pedestrians or off roads with or without the use of motor vehicles (in the past the fine ranged from EUR 30 to EUR 150);

2) when the same conduct is committed on roads and their appurtenances by parked or moving vehicles, Article 15 of the Road Traffic Act applies and the penalty rises from 216 to 866 euro (the same as in the past).

In the first case, the violation can be ascertained without immediate contestation, through the images of common video surveillance systems outside or inside built-up areas; in the second case, the cameras must be installed along the roads. It is considered that only installations of the authorities responsible for territorial surveillance may be used, unless the violation is a criminal offence (and thus also ascertainable from private images).

Highway Embankment

Defiling and embellishing the road or its appurtenances - outside the cases of illegal occupation of the road surface, punished more severely by Article 20 of the Highway Code - with objects or materials of any kind other than waste is also an administrative offence. There is a fine ranging from 26 to 102 euros (as in the past).

Irregular waste management

Toughening also for those who commit the crime of unauthorised waste management; it becomes a crime, when in the past it was a contravention, severely punished both in the case of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. When the offence is committed by means of a motor vehicle, the driver of the vehicle is subject to a three- to nine-month suspension of his driving licence; a conviction or plea bargain is followed by the confiscation of the vehicle used to commit the offence, unless it belongs to a person not involved in the offence.

The suspension of the licence is also triggered for the violation of the obligations of communication, keeping of compulsory registers and forms: from one to four months if non-hazardous waste is involved and from two to eight months if hazardous waste is involved. Establishment of the breach is also followed by suspension from the National Register of Environmental Operators for a period of two to six months if the transport concerns non-hazardous waste and from four to twelve months if the transport concerns hazardous waste. Finally, fines up to EUR 30,000 are envisaged and, in the most serious cases, also the suspension of the person responsible for the infringement from the office held, or as a director, from one month to one year.

Who applies the sanctions

The administrative sanction for abandoning or depositing waste (Article 255 of the Tua) is applied by the mayor, by express provision of the rule; the other two are applied by the ascertaining officer, identified according to the rules of the Highway Code. All criminal penalties naturally remain within the jurisdiction of the judge.

The casting of dangerous things

Waste' is any object that the holder discards or intends or is obliged to discard. Waste is 'very small waste' objects such as discards, paper handkerchiefs and chewing gum. For waste from smoking products, municipalities must install special bins for their collection in streets, parks and places of high social gathering.

Since 9 August, the abandonment or deposit of small waste or smoking products has been an administrative offence. In principle, however, the act may constitute the offence of throwing dangerous things if the conduct takes place in a place of public transit or in a private place of common or other people's use. It is a misdemeanour of danger also punishable by negligence; actual damage to persons is not necessary, the ability to cause it is sufficient. The distinction between the administrative offence and the criminal offence can therefore be derived from the quantity of the very small waste or smoking products abandoned. Where there are many, it is reasonable to think that the conduct borders on the criminal offence.