Violators of environment regulations penalised

AMMAN — A total of 18,359 factories and vocational workshops were penalised for breaching health and environment regulations over the past three months, according to government officials. 

The Environment Ministry and the Rangers issued 17,358 tickets to industrial, vocational, and service institutions and facilities, and closed down 281 industries for failing to rectify their situation within the grace period, Environment Ministry Spokesperson Isa Shboul told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.
“A total of 1,565 tickets were issued to food outlets for storing expired food items, while another 6,026 food outlets received tickets for lack of cleanliness,” Shboul said.

The majority of the violations were registered among vehicles and industries, with 8,206 tickets issued for excessive emissions.

In addition, 1,118 vocational workshops were fined for operating without a licence, he said, noting that 26 cases of illegal logging were also recorded.

Shboul said that the remaining violations involved wildfires, vehicle noise, wildlife hunting, sandblasting, littering, and disposal of debris and wastewater in undesignated areas.

Environment Minister Taher Shakhshir said the ministry and the Rangers are intensifying monitoring of factories and industries to curb environment pollution and violations.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, Shakhshir noted that with the onset of winter, the ministry and the Rangers are deploying more patrols in forest areas to prevent illegal logging, a practice that increases during the cold season.

Under environmental regulations, those who cut down forest trees without a licence face a three-month prison term, and a JD100 fine for each tree chopped down from state-owned land and JD50 for one from private land. In addition, their equipment is confiscated.

Illegal logging during winter, fires during summer and insufficient rain due to climate change are the main threats to Jordan’s shrinking green cover, according to experts.