Illegal dumping costs

 

'Illegal Dumping Costs', is a County-wide anti fly tipping campaign, which was officially launched at the beginning of November 2003.  

 

The campaign aims to reduce the amount of illegal dumping in Buckinghamshire (often referred to as fly tipping) and is being delivered by the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire.The Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire consists of Bucks County Council, Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe District Council.

 

This week the ‘Illegal Dumping Costs’ campaign will be re-launched with the aim of continuing to reduce the blight of fly-tipping in the County.   

 

The ‘Illegal Dumping Costs’ campaign was originally launched five years ago when it was costing Buckinghamshire tax payers up to £500,000 a year to clear and dispose of the illegally dumped rubbish.  Since the campaign was launched:

  • Fly-tipping has reduced by a third in the county saving over £250,000 in collection costs
  • There have been over 115 successful prosecutions at a rate of one every 8.5 days  

 

However much more needs to be done to reduce this figure even further and with this in mind the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire will be:

  • Running a series of road shows to inform residents and businesses on how they can help prevent fly-tipping
  • Informing residents that they must check the trader they use to take away their waste is a registered waste carrier
  • Informing businesses that they have a legal responsibility to ensure that their rubbish is disposed off correctly
  • Reminding householders and businesses where they can dispose of their waste
  • Continuing to use covert cameras to help catch illegal dumpers 

 

People caught dumping rubbish illegally can be arrested, fined up to £50,000, be imprisoned and get a criminal record. If a householder or business fails to make the necessary checks when disposing of their waste they could be fined up to £5,000.  

The campaign is continuing to urge residents to report incidents where they see waste being dumped illegally.  So far the response from witnesses has been fantastic, with over half of all convictions to date arising from witnesses who report seeing someone fly-tip. 

 

For more information Illegal Dumping Costs