Fly-tipping Action Wales and member agencies from across Ceredigion came together this week (05-09 July 2010) as part of a campaign clamping down on illegal dumping of waste to help reduce cases of fly-tipping, which costs thousands of pounds in clean-up costs each year.
The week of activities co-ordinated by Fly-tipping Action Wales and involving Ceredigion County Council; Tidy Towns; Dyfed Powys Police; NetRegs and Environment Agency Wales, aimed to inform householders, waste carriers and business owners of their duty to get rid of waste legally and safely.
Emma Killian, South West Wales Co-ordinator for Fly-tipping Action Wales, said: “We’ve had a successful week working with our partner agencies in Ceredigion and hope that more people are aware that fly-tipping is a crime and everyone has a responsibility to make sure that they get rid of their waste legally and safely. We hope this week will help reduce the number of incidents of fly-tipping in the County, as fly-tipping is an un-necessary blight on our communities and carries hefty clean up costs for tax payers.”
During the week, Fly-tipping Action Wales partners and NetRegs visited builders’ merchants to encourage sole traders to register as waste carriers with Environment Agency Wales’ official database and also encouraged business owners to use registered traders when disposing of commercial waste.
The visits were organised at Travis Perkins in Lampeter and Jewsons in Aberaeron (see picture 1). Further visits to DIY stores including Focus outlets at Aberystwyth and Cardigan were also carried out by the partnership, where householders were advised to ask waste carriers where their waste was going and to use registered traders.
Emma Mason, NetRegs spokesperson for Wales, said: “We’re asking businesses and traders to sign up to our free monthly newsletter via the NetRegs website. By signing up businesses will be kept up-to-date with new legislation or changes to environmental laws, given tips on how they can be greener and save money, and informed of future legislation to help them plan ahead.”
As part of the campaign, a clean-up operation was organised by Ceredigion County Council’s Tidy Towns’ Officer, Rachel Mills, at the scenic spot of Llanilar Station Yard, located adjacent to the Ystwyth Trail along the old railway line running to Carmarthern. The area had been repeatedly fly-tipped for several years until the Council assembled a gated area around the site two years ago. Around 25 tonnes of asbestos, tyre, wood and metal waste was removed from the site by local scrap metal contractor, Mike Oliver Metals.
Elsewhere, to tackle issues of fly-tipping cases at rural recycling sites, warning notices were assembled across the County. Rachel Mills, Tidy Towns Officer for Ceredigion County Council, said: “There is a recurring problem at these sites, whereby clear bags containing household recyclate are fly-tipped either by householders who have missed the fortnightly collection or are not on the current collection route, or by business owners or traders disposing of waste from business premises.
“Bags left in this way are collected as fly–tipped waste and are sent to landfill rather than being recycled. This means that not only are people committing a fly tipping offence for which they could face fines or imprisonment, but their efforts to help the environment through recycling are wasted. Residents within reach of Glan yr Afon Civic Amenity Site, at Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, can deposit Ceredigion-issued bags containing clean recyclate at that site or, alternatively, all Ceredigion residents can sort materials for recycling into the appropriate banks at their nearest community recycling facility which are located throughout the county."
Councillor Gethin James, Ceredigion Cabinet member for Environmental Services & Housing said: “It is very encouraging to note that nuisance and blight caused by fly-tipping is being tackled in an organised manner within the county. Ceredigion County Council is taking advantage of systems developed to tackle fly-tipping in partnership with Tidy Wales, Environment Agency and Dyfed Powys Police. It is clear that a great deal of effort is being made to inform the public and managers of commercial activities of their waste management responsibilities, and to make use of powers available to deal with a selfish minority that have no regard to community safety or the quality of our environment.”
To end the week, Environment Agency Wales Officers along with Dyfed Powys Police carried out Waste Carrier Stop Checks across the county, stopping vehicles carrying waste to make sure they were registered as Waste Carriers with Environment Agency Wales’s database and were disposing of waste at authorised sites rather than fly-tipping waste. A number of vehicles were stopped and those who were not registered as waste carriers will now be followed up with enforcement action.
PC Eifion Lodwig of the Aberystwyth Branch of Dyfed Powys Police, said: “Fly-tipping is an environmental crime and a form of anti social behaviour which affects all of our communities. We will work closely with our partners in relation to enforcement activity in order to demonstrate that this will not be tolerated and action will be taken against those who break the law”.
The latest figures in Wales show there were a total of 55,300 fly-tipping incidents between 01 April 2008 and 31 March 2009 and the annual clean-up costs to Welsh tax payers is £3 million.
To report an incident of fly-tipped waste, contact Ceredigion County Council or alternatively, call the Environment Agency report line on 0370 8506506.
For more information on fly-tipping, visit www.flytippingactionwales.org.
