Crime gangs cash in on f ly-tipping

Thugs pose as waste firms as dumping doubles in 6 years

ORGANISED crime gangs are being blamed for the astonishing doubling in fly-tipping incidents across England.

Experts say fake companies pose as legitimate businesses to hire out buildings. They then fill them with clients’ waste, before leaving it for land owners and local authorities to clean up.

London and Manchester have been hardest hit by the crisis in illegal waste removal services, which have cost councils around the country almost £60million.

Campaigners say tougher sentences are needed to address the issue.

Research, compiled by the BBC Shared Data Unit, reveals large-scale fly-tipping – involving a tipper lorry load or more in size – has more than doubled in six years. Last year councils forked out £12.8million to clear more than 36,200 large tips.

The figures highlight the desperate need to combat the waste being left in our roads, streets and countryside and comes as the Daily Mail is once again supporting the Great British Spring Clean, the litter campaign by Keep Britain Tidy.

The Mail has long battled against the scourge of plastic in the environment, with our Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign and our demands for a plastic bottle deposit return scheme.

The fly-tipping figures highlighted a ‘nightmare’ situation that continues to ‘spiral out of control’, said the National Farmers Union. It said criminals are using lock-cutting tools to break into private land and dump huge piles of waste. Gangs also pose as waste companies to rent buildings or land and tip lorry loads of rubbish.

The Government claims the rise in incidents could be down to better recording methods – though some suggest the introduction of fees at many recycling centres has brought about the rise.

Last year, local authorities were given powers to issue penalties of up to £400 to homeowners who pass waste to an unlicensed carrier and whose rubbish is then illegally dumped. Some councils have now doubled this to £800. Others have resorted to publishing ‘wall of shame’ web pages which share photographs of fly-tippers with the public. Countryside Alliance head of policy Sarah Lee told the BBC: ‘You are now getting fake waste companies hiring out buildings, dumping waste in them and doing a runner.

‘We need to do more to let people know how to check whether these individuals have a waste carrier licence.’

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: ‘It’s time for the new Government to get serious on mass fly-tipping, make it harder for criminals to trade, and give local authorities the resources they need.’