ILLEGAL TIPPING OUTCRY
DOZENS of bags of rubbish, pieces of wood, a broken TV and a stained foam mattress have been dumped in a part-built garage in Merthyr Tydfil. Local residents called the situation awful, disgusting and unbelievable after a councillor posted a photograph of the fly-tipping site, which he describes as the worst he’s seen.
Declan Sammon, an independent councillor representing Dowlais, wrote on Facebook: “This has to be the worst case of fly-tipping currently in the Dowlais and Pant ward. Some people think it’s OK to dump their rubbish in someone else’s partfinished garage.”
He took the photograph on Friday but said it was an ongoing problem, with bin bags being dumped in the lane behind King Street, near Pantyscallog Primary School.
The council’s website defines flytipping as “the illegal dumping of waste on any land, whether it is private or council-owned land”.
Cllr Sammon’s post attracted dozens of comments, with one resident saying: “It’s getting out of hand. Disgusting.”
Another added: “That’s disgusting. What on earth is the matter with people?”
Cllr Sammon said he is part of a group of volunteers who have been carrying out regular litter picks for the past five years. He added: “It is just about trying to keep our neighbourhoods clean.”
Fly-tipping can cause serious pollution to watercourses and the environment in general, as well as harming wildlife and farm animals. It can also be a risk to people, spoiling quality of life and devaluing properties. Clearing up costs landowners and the taxpayers of Merthyr Tydfil £80,000 a year.
Cllr Kevin O’Neill, leader of the council, said it was working hard to tackle the problem, having previously worked to crack down on dog fouling and people dumping grass cuttings.
He said as the smallest local authority in Wales, it had a small but “very good” team of people working on waste enforcement.
The former South Wales Police chief said he does not believe the fixed penalty notices, introduced by the Welsh Government last year, are working. He said a “robust approach” was needed, but budget cuts and limitations on how much waste the local authority can send to landfill were challenging.
Cllr O’Neill suggested cameras in fly-tipping hotspots may help, but the answers lie in working closely with the police and the public. He said: “It is just everybody doing their little bit.”
He encouraged people to report fly-tipping anonymously via Crimestoppers.