Raising awareness – Fly-tipping affects us all
ILLEGAL rubbish dumping across South Wales is to be cracked down on in a new campaign organised by Fly-tipping Action Wales (FtAW) and charity Crimestoppers.
The two organisation want to raise awareness and encourage anyone to come forward with information they may have about fly-tipping.
In Wales in 2014/15, there were around 31,000 incidents of fly-tipping, costing the Welsh taxpayer up to £1.8m to clean up.
Gary Evans of FtAW said: “Flytipping is not a victimless crime – it affects us all. If you see fly-tipping please report it. We need the public’s help if we are to catch these criminals.
“We all need to take responsibility for our own waste. If you give your waste to someone else make sure that they’re a registered waste carrier.”
Around eight in 10 incidents of illegal waste dumping involved household waste which causes harm to the environment and attracts unwanted pests like rodents.
Andrew Murphy of Crimestoppers said: “Fly-tipping is a blight on our communities. It poses a threat to humans and wildlife, it damages our environment and it spoils our beautiful towns and countryside.
“We hope the campaign will raise awareness of this issue and encourage more people to speak up if they know who’s doing it.”
Fly-tipping carries up to a £50,000 fine and, or either, up to 12 months in prison.
You can catch up with the campaign on the FtAW social media at Facebook.com/FtAWales and Twitter.com/ftaw. Report any illegal fly-tipping to Crimestoppers free on 0800 555 111.