Recycling experts Scott Bros is calling on the government to make more funds available to local authorities and the police to tackle the growing menace of illegally dumped household and commercial waste.
It follows a report by the BBC which says that organised crime is increasingly involved in large scale fly-tipping incidents throughout England.
Peter Scott, a director of the Teesside-based company, said incidents of domestic waste being fly-tipped by rogue operators continues to grow in the North East.
He said there has been a rise in the number of rogue operators who can undercut the cost of properly licenced companies. But without the necessary licences they are unable to use civic amenity sites so resort to illegally dumping household waste instead.
Local authorities in England dealt with more than one million fly-tipping incidents during 2018/19 – an increase of eight per cent from the previous year, according to the latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
It says that nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of fly-tips involved household waste and that the total incidents involving household waste rose by two per cent from 2017/18.
The Stockton firm, which has made significant investments in its recycling facilities – including a £1m wash plant which reclaims high quality aggregates and sand from construction waste – has itself been the victim of fly-tipping on its own land.
The company is advising householders to ensure they check that tradespeople possess a valid waste carriers’ licence and correct waste transfer notes before allowing the removal of waste, otherwise they risk being fined if it is traced back to them.
Peter Scott said: “The government must recognise the serious environmental and economic harm caused by such large-scale fly-tipping and provide more effective funding for local authorities and police forces to put a stop to a problem that is blighting our communities.
“It’s no good setting targets to reduce greenhouse gases while at the same time failing to protect the environment from illegally-dumped waste.
“Local councils and the police are under-resourced to deal with such a large-scale problem.
“It’s important to stress that this is not a victimless crime and the cost of the clean-up is ultimately borne by the taxpayer and I would appeal to anyone witnessing a fly-tipping incident to report it.”
Householders and businesses have a duty of care to ensure their waste is correctly disposed of and can check if a person or business has the valid licences via the Environment Agency website.
