RISING CONCERN ABOUT INCREASED FLY-TIPPING INCIDENTS

Huge increases in fly-tipping incidents have been seen over the last few months as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, driven by the closure of tips and recycling centres, and the rise in DIY activity among households since the end of March.

And although tips and waste centres have now reopened around the country, fly-tipping still appears to be seriously problematic, with Martin Montague – founder of incident reporting app ClearWaste – explaining to the Guardian that sites have opened at significantly reduced capacity and many are booked up for weeks, while others have stopped accepting building waste.

The ClearWaste app did see a massive spike in April at the start of lockdown, but so far for July the app has logged a 74 per cent increase in activity, as well – almost two months after the reopening of most of the country’s dumps and recycling centres.

Mr Montague went on to say that councils dealing with stretched resources are finding it hard to remove waste, which is leading to a buildup of waste – and people think they “might as well add to it”.

It’s also possible that the public have been making use of unlicensed waste carriers over the last couple of months, as well as organised criminal gangs which now operate in this territory, “attracted by the relatively low penalties”.

You can check to see if someone is a registered waste carrier on the Environment Agency website and if you’re concerned about fly-tipping or waste carriers you can get in touch with your local council’s waste and recycling team.

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