Name and shame these fly-tipping menaces

Around half the homes in the uK still have a weekly collection of residual waste and in some cities a twice-weekly collection isn’t unusual. The number of bin collections hasn’t been cut: where fortnightly collections have been introduced with separate storage for recycling, householders can have more waste collected, as long as they sort it out correctly. The requirement to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill and recycle more isn’t a ‘scheme dreamed up by faceless bureaucrats’; it’s a direct consequence of John Major having signed the Maastricht Treaty which committed the uK to complying with the Eu landfill directive. Major’s government introduced a landfill tax on waste disposal to increase the costs artificially to make recycling more financially attractive. That tax has been increased significantly over the years by subsequent chancellors. The actual cost of waste treatment and disposal have gone up too. As well as the landfill tax, local councils were given ring-fenced funding to extend household waste recycling but in the past decade both the Westminster and Scottish Governments pulled down the ring-fence. So the funding is still there but councils can (and do) use it for other purposes. Fortnightly collections work well only in areas where the waste can be traced to individual homes (it’s not so good in flats). If householders in leafy lanes aren’t prepared to sort out their recycling and turn to either fly-tipping it or paying a ‘man with a van’ to take it away, fly-tipping will increase. Anyone who uses someone they find on-line or in their local trade directory to collect surplus waste should ask the contractor for official proof that he/she is a registered waste carrier, who must be able to demonstrate what they intend to do with the collected waste. If a contractor offers low rates, there’s a good chance of fly-tipping rather than proper disposal. I’d like to see not only fly-tippers named and shamed but also the householders who couldn’t resist a supposed bargain for these services. JOHN F. CRAWFORD, chartered waste

manager (rtd), Lytham, Lancs.