This page covers:
What is fly-tipping?
It is illegal to dump rubbish and anyone caught doing so is
liable to prosecution, with fines of up to £50,000 or 5 years
imprisonment. Dumping of rubbish or fly-tipping is harmful to
the environment and potentially dangerous to people and
wildlife.
It can vary in scale from a bin bag of rubbish to large
quantities of waste dumped from lorries. Fly-tipped waste can
be found anywhere such as roadsides, in lay-bys or on private
land.
A wide variety of wastes are fly-tipped. These include
household rubbish, large domestic items such as fridges and
mattresses, garden refuse, tyres and clinical waste. Large
amounts of waste from construction, demolition and excavation
activities are sometimes dumped.
If you are employing a tradesman to work on your home, it is
your responsibility to make sure that they (or the skip company)
are Registered Waste Carriers. Please see the Duty of
Care for Householders (under 'Related Information').
How to report it to the Council
To report an incident of illegal dumping or if you suspect
someone of fly-tipping, please contact Council Connect on 01225 39
40 41 or via email at councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk.
If you are experiencing problems with regular fly-tipping in the
same place in your community, please ask for an Enforcement Officer
to contact you.
Reporting Fly-tipped Hazardous
Waste
To report the illegal dumping of hazardous waste, call the
Environment Agency Incident Hotline 0800 80 70 60 free, 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week.
Hazardous waste could be asbestos sheets, containers of liquid
or powder chemicals, paints and other waste that might be harmful
to human health or to the environment.
Please note that incident attendance is based on risk and the
following applies:
- The Environment Agency will attend incidents that they believe
have a major effect on the environment within 2 hours (or 4 hours
outside normal time).
- The normal response time for minor incidents is within 7 days
and attendance is coordinated with other routine site visits in the
same area.
- The Environment Agency will provide feedback on incidents to
the person who reported it. They will advise them what the
problem was and what they have done to fix it.
Contacting the Environment
Agency
General enquiries: 08708 506 506
Enquiries (non UK calls): 00 44 1709 389 201
Floodline: 0845 988 1188
Website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
The Environment Agency have published the following information
in answer to many of the questions that people ask about their
site:
- Report a pollution incident: Don't
ignore it, Report it! See above for details and guidelines.
- Use their search facility: If you have a
question on another topic, use their Search facility to look for
the information you need.
- Making complaints or commendations: This
section gives information on making complaints and commendation and
how they handle feedback.
- Consultations: They carry out many
consultations with the public and business, before they make
decisions that might affect people.
- Other Enquiries: You can use their
Enquiry form to request any information that you cannot find on
this sites.
- Offices: Find out how you can get in
touch with your local Environment Agency office.
The Council and the Environment Agency
working together
The Council and the Environment Agency have developed a joint
working arrangement (a Memorandum of Understanding) which forms the
basis for coordinated action on fly-tipping throughout the
district.
There has also been a campaign project running since late 2005
which was funded by Defra’s Landfill Tax initiative BREW (Business
Resource Efficiency in Waste) to tackle fly-tipping all the way
down the waste chain. This targeted businesses that flout the
law and turn a blind eye to where their rubbish goes, and the
unscrupulous tippers who charge for rubbish removal and then dump
it illegally.
As well as the investigation of fly-tipping incidents and
prosecutions, there has been publicity and education activity,
sharing of best practice and training, as well as initiatives in
development involving other organisations and stakeholders affected
such as Network Rail, the NFU, British Waterways, major landowners
and Parish Councils.
Other organisations tackling
fly-tipping
The National Fly-tipping Prevention Group
(NFTPG) is a group of organisations working with a common
aim: coming up with solutions to the problem of fly-tipping.
Follow this link (www.environment-agency.gov.uk/nftpg/)
to find information about its work and members. You’ll also find
tips on simple ways you can help prevent fly-tipping and get advice
on what you should do if you see fly-tipping, or are a victim of
fly-tipping.
The NFTPG has produced a more detailed guidance document
Tackling Fly-tipping: a guide for landowners and
managers
Defra, the Government’s Department for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is committed to dealing with
improving local environmental quality and tackling waste crime,
such as “fly-tipping”. The illegal disposal of waste is an
anti-social behaviour that is adversely affecting the amenity of
local environments and reducing civic pride.
For more information, please follow these links;
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/flytipping
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/legislation/duty.htm
Cleaner Safer Greener Communities (www.cleanersafergreener.gov.uk/)
is about creating quality spaces in which people want to live and
can be proud - and which others will respect.
This website is a one-stop-shop of best practice examples. Find out
about the initiatives that really work; and How
to... tackle those cleaner safer greener issues which will
make more of your community.
EnCams (www.encams.org) is an environmental
charity who campaign directly to the public and is best known
for its Keep Britain Tidy campaign, which has been running for
over fifty years. EnCams campaigns on many issues to improve
the state of our streets and reduce anti-social behaviour in our
communities. These issues are very broad and don’t just involve
litter. They range from dog fouling to graffiti and fly-tipping and
neighbourhood noise to nuisance and abandoned vehicles.
