Neighbourhood Issues - Flytipping
The illegal deposition of waste commonly referred to as fly tipping is now a significant problem across this and other regions of the country. We now see regular television programmes investigating how unscrupulous operators make lots of money disposing of other people’s waste illegally.
Fly-tipped rubbish is not only a threat to the environment but also to our health and safety. Fly-tippers are now being successfully prosecuted not only by the Environment Agency but also local authorities. So much fly tipping is taking place (visit the Environment Agency’s fly tipping Environmental Facts & Figures) that the Local Government Association on behalf of all local authorities has entered into an agreement with the Environment Agency about who (Agency or local authority) should tackle which types of fly tipping.
This agreement is often referred to as the Fly Tipping Protocol and is a detailed document. The bottom line is that all but the worst cases of fly tipping should now be reported to your local authority. Guidance on the Protocol can be found here.
Occurrence of fly-tipping
All local authorities are now obliged to report incidents of fly tipping within their boundaries onto a national database devised by DEFRA and managed by the Environment Agency: This database is called Flycapture and went live in April 2004 but only became obligatory in April 2005.
From the first year’s data DEFRA determined that a fly tipping incident took place every 35 seconds. This figure must be regarded with some caution as not all local authorities were reporting in the first year. If they had the number would be more like every 15 seconds or 4 times a minute.
There are a number of reasons for fly tipping these include:
- poor domestic waste collection services
- lack of proper disposal facilities
- limited opening hours at civic amenity sites
- van ban at civic amenity sites
- charges for bulky refuse collection
- charges for trade waste collection
- ignorance
- avoiding paying landfill tax
Penalties
The Government regard all environmental crime as very serious. Fly tipping is environmental crime and successful prosecutions under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 have been obtained in the past. The Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act 2005 has brought in a whole raft of powers in the fight against issues such as fly-posting, graffiti, noise, litter, dog fouling and fly tipping. The maximum fine for fly tipping is now £50,000 or 12 months imprisonment per offence if convicted in a Magistrate’s Court. If prosecuted in the Crown Court, the fine may be unlimited with the possibility of between two to five years imprisonment if hazardous waste is involved.
Preventing fly tipping
In Lancashire a Fly tipping Forum has been established for over 3 years bringing together all parties with a vested interest in solving this problem. Membership of the Forum is open to all local authority officers dealing with fly tipping as well as large landowners and officers from the Environment Agency. The Forum meetings on a regular basis and also runs an online Forum. Click here to visit as a guest
The Lancashire Fly tipping Forum runs a Fly Tipping Hotline on 08701 999 455 where fly tipping in any part of the county can be reported
CCTV equipment is held by the Lancashire Fly Tipping Forum for use anywhere in the county where there is a particular problem. The equipment will be installed in partnership with the relevant local authority. Any evidence obtained will be used by the local authority to effect a prosecution under the relevant legislation.
Often it is possible to make small changes which discourage or even prevent further fly tipping at a hotspot. Advice is available from your local authority or visit the Lancashire Fly Tipping Forum Advice Centre
Duty of Care
DEFRA are working hard to ensure the business community understand their role with respect to disposal of commercial waste. Under the BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) project novel and innovative ways are being developed to educate businesses of their requirement to dispose of their waste responsibly under legislation referred to as Duty of Care.
This same Duty of Care is now placed on householders. Householders must now ensure that any waste removed from their homes or gardens is disposed of properly and responsibly.
In other words your waste should only be given to a registered waste carrier and you should ensure that that waste carrier disposes of your waste in the correct manner. Legitimate waste carriers will provide waste transfer notes as a means of providing an audit trail. Waste carriers licenses can be obtained from the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency has made available a number of public registers online, waste carriers being one. They can be interrogated here to establish if a company is actually registered to carry waste.
Businesses have been taken to Court after their waste has been fly tipped somewhere by an unscrupulous operator who charged them a sum of money to take it away. This can now happen to householders.
Tackling Fly tipping
The Lancashire Fly Tipping Forum also has an information web site at NotinMYBackyard.info which holds a wealth of information on fly tipping including how to tackle it. Fly tipping can also be reported online straight to the local authority concerned at this web site.
Visit the Lancashire Fly Tipping Forum Advice Centre
Report fly tipping anywhere in Lancashire online here