The City of Tacoma will soon have new penalties in place for people who litter. It's the first time the city has made changes to its litter laws in more than 25 years. The changes were approved at a city council meeting on Tuesday. Last year the City of Tacoma said it spent $2 million cleaning up 4.9 million pounds of debris around the city. But with new penalties now approved, city leaders hope to deter people from illegal dumping trash and littering. “The key piece for me is signaling to the public that we take it seriously,” said Deputy Mayor John Hines, with the City of Tacoma. “We're going to make sure that the penalties match the crime and encourage people not to treat our city like trash.” The Tacoma City Council approved the changes on Tuesday and the new penalties go into effect Monday, May 13. READ MORE: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/tacoma-approves-new-penalties-for-littering/281-469fbee2-314f-4716-ad62-6e9e6ffcd6bf