Fly-tipping nightmare gets worse
Shady firms add to problem
is caused by commercial businesses/ tradespeople dumping materials such as large quantities of garden waste, old kitchens and bathrooms, building materials and items such as old car tyres.
The council introduced two Neighbourhood Environmental Teams in April 2019 to improve response times to reactive incidents such as fly-tipping.
And since the introduction of the NETs teams, the council has removed 107 tonnes of fly-tipping waste at a cost of almost £100,000.
Each year the council spends over £2.5m removing litter and fly- tipping from West Lothian’s streets.
Andy Johnston, service manager in the council’s NETs, Land and Countryside Services, said: “A common misconception is that flytipping is caused by the introduction of slim bins, bulky uplift charges or not enough recycling centres, and that is not correct.
“The vast majority of flytipping is materials that would never be placed into a household bin, picked up via a bulky uplift or taken to a council run recycling centre. Data highlights that large increases in fly-tipping were occurring long before recycling centres opening hours were reduced or the introduction of bulky uplift charges, for example.
“Fly-tipping isn’t the fault of the council or police. It’s caused by people who know they are in the wrong and make the wrong choices.
“Fly-tipping is illegal and we will step up our efforts to catch those responsible. But we can’t do it on our own and need residents and tradespeople to work with us.”
To help reduce incidents of illegal fly- tipping, householders are now being encouraged to check their tradespeople have a valid waste carriers licence before employing them – otherwise they too could end up being fined as both tradespeople and householders are legally responsible for ensuring that they dispose of their waste items legally and safety.
You can report fly-tipping via the council’s website or call 01506 280000.
Householders should get a waste transfer note/receipt from their tradesperson which should state where waste is being removed from and where the waste is going to be disposed of, the cost of removal and trader details.