Fly Tipping On The Rise in East Cambs

FLY-TIPPING IS A BLOT ON THE LANDSCAPE

Fly-tipping is on the rise. 

Latest statistics show there were one million fly-tipping incidents in England in one year – the equivalent of nearly 114 every hour. It cost councils £58 million to clear up the mess.

Now one local authority has vowed to purge its district of discarded waste and has issued a stern warning to those who flout the rules.

In the last nine days a caravan, a paddling pool, a BBQ, a lawn mower, five freezers, four fridges, three sofas, two armchairs and a 60-inch TV have been found scattered across the laybys, green spaces and beauty spots of East Cambridgeshire.

These items were collected alongside a mountain of construction waste and a tower of tyres which, if stacked, would reach the height of the nave in Ely Cathedral.

In total 40 tonnes of rubbish was catalogued in the period – the same weight as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, six elephants or an average single-storey, two-bed house in the region.

The clear-up was part of the first stage of a mission by East Cambs Street Scene, the council’s trading company, who have been delivering the council’s waste services for just over six weeks, to eradicate the problem of fly-tipping in the district.

A rubbish problem

The most shocking find was 20 tonnes worth of rubbish dumped on the A1303 near Newmarket.

The majority of this involved construction waste – paint pots, plastic, plaster boards, masonry, roofing tiles and wood.

East Cambs Street Scene also visited Burrough Green, Red Lodge, Earith and Chippenham as well as Knaves Acre Drove and Temple Road in Isleham, lay-bys on the A14, Long Causeway near Coveney and Cherrytree Lane in Soham. They collected 30 tyres in one go, white goods and general and garden waste en route.

Councillor Julia Huffer, service delivery champion for waste services, said: “In just a short space of time the work of East Cambs Street Scene has had a dramatic impact and we have restored some of our green spaces and cleared laybys of unsightly mounds of rubbish that had been accumulating for some time.

“Bringing the waste home has already benefited of our district and we are just getting started.

“Not only does fly-tipping create an eyesore for residents, it is also a serious public health risk, creating pollution and attracting rats and other vermin.

“We are immensely proud of our beautiful region and we should all be working together to ensure it stays that way.”

Jo Brooks, operations director for East Cambridgeshire District Council said “Clamping down on offenders is one of the ways we can stop fly-tipping from becoming an ongoing problem and a drain on the council’s financial resources. This option, alongside educating our residents on how they can dispose of their waste, will allow us to take a hold of this issue and control the problem.”

To encourage residents to review their recycling habits and consider how they dispose of their waste, the council encouraged schools from around the district to design a superhero for their ‘Be like Michael, recycle’ campaign. Michael has featured within several of their waste-based initiatives since, including supporting East Cambs Street Scene’s fly-tipping focus.

Jo continued: “The whole of Britain is in the grips of a fly-tipping epidemic,” she said. “But here in East Cambridgeshire we pride ourselves on finding ways to stand out from the crowd and make our region a better and safer place for people to live and work. This involves a major effort from us and a plan to prevent reoffending.

“However, it’s important people realise that ultimately it is the responsibility of individuals to dispose of their waste legally and if they do not, the burden of clearing it up falls on local councils. We would much rather spend our money on better things to benefit the community instead of clearing up the mess of a few who show flagrant disrespect for where they live.

“Where we have been able to find sufficient evidence, we will impose the necessary fines.”

The nine-day fly-tipping clear-up has cost the council more than £3,000 and this includes the hire of a grab lorry, fuel and wages for contractors.

Jo said: “We are calling on residents to do their bit and dispose of their waste correctly. We are also warning offenders that we will have a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping in the future.”

Blot on the landscape

Everyone who handles waste, including householders, has a “duty of care” to do so responsibly.

Local councils have powers to penalise illegal fly-tipping and fixed penalty notices can be issued if people do not comply with the duty-of-care obligations.

East Cambridgeshire residents are being asked to keep an eye out for fly-tipping and report any instances in their area.

Where the people responsible can be identified, the council will take the most appropriate course of enforcement action.

A fixed penalty notice incurs a penalty of £400 and this would usually be issued for low level fly-tipping.

Where the incident is more severe – due to the extent or nature of the fly-tipped material – the council will take court action and this could lead to a fine of up to £50,000 or imprisonment.

Helping residents get it right

Around the UK some councils have been criticised for imposing restrictions on household refuse, including the introduction of collections only every third week in some areas which some say may have contributed to a surge in fly-tipping.

In East Cambridgeshire, the council have strived to make it easy for residents to deal with rubbish appropriately.

When East Cambs Street Scene was first contracted it offered all residents the opportunity to request a second blue bin for a one-off administration fee of £25 – with no additional cost for it to be emptied.

Collections have now started and any additional blue bin is collected alongside the normal blue bin collection.

Collections of recycling are fortnightly with garden and food waste on alternate weeks.

Additionally, residents are given 52 black sacks at the start of the year free of charge to use to dispose of general waste. They can supplement this with additional black sacks which will be collected of at no extra cost. General waste is collected every week.

The council also offers a bulky waste collection service which residents can request online or through their customer services team. This allows residents to feel reassured that their bulky waste, such as fridges and carpets, are being disposed of correctly.

The district also has a recycling centre in Witchford which take larger items.

Jo said: “You have to give householder options to enable them to do the right thing and here in here in East Cambridgeshire we give people no excuses for fly-tipping.”