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Waste, Recycling, Environment

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Page last updated at 09:33 GMT, Friday, February 26 2010

LitterLitter Collection

Litter can be as small as a sweet wrapper, as large as a bag of rubbish, or it can mean lots of items scattered about. ENCAMS (an environmental charity who campaign directly to the public) describes litter as waste in the wrong place caused by human agency. In other words, it is only people that make litter. The offence of 'Leaving Litter' (section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; Article 3 of the Litter (NI) Order 1994) says that if a person drops, throws, deposits or leaves anything so as to cause defacement in a public place, they could be committing a littering offence.

About £342 million a year is spent by local authorities in England on street cleaning and litter clearance, with the most common types of litter being cigarette ends, followed by sweet wrappers and matchsticks. An estimated 122 tonnes of cigarette stubs, matchsticks and cigarette related litter is dropped every day across the UK.

In a Local Environmental Quality Survey carried out by ENCAMS in 2002, cigarette related litter was found in 77% of all locations surveyed and confectionery related litter such as sweet wrappers was found in 53% of locations. Drinks related litter such as cans and bottles were found in 31% of all locations.

Litter picking is carried out continuously throughout the Borough, with busy areas such as routes to school, town and parish shopping centres being visited daily and all litter removed.  We will deal with heavy accumulations of litter within 5 working days of receiving a report or complaint.

 

Litter bins

The Council has provided 750 litterbins throughout the Borough.  Our target is to empty all bins before they are full or overflowing.  If we receive a report regarding a full/overflowing bin, we will empty within one working day.

Damaged bins will be made safe within 2 working days, and replaced as soon as possible thereafter.

 

Fly-tipping/illegally dumped waste

Fly-Tipping

Fly-tipping is the 'illegal deposit of any waste onto land i.e. waste dumped or tipped on a site with no licence to accept it.

 

  • During 2008/2009 there were 626 incidents of of fly-tipping costing £30,722.
  • The most common types of fly-tipped waste are household waste, large domestic items such as mattresses and fridges, garden waste and industrial waste.
  • Only holders of waste management licences can recover, transport, deposit or dispose of waste.
  • The majority of offenders fly-tip to avoid paying the landfill tax (the charge that has to be paid to dispose of waste legally).
  • The environment agency investigates the larger scale incidents of fly-tipping, hazardous waste and those involving organised gangs of fly-tippers while local authorities are responsible for clearing up fly-tipping on publicly owned land including roads and lay-bys.
  • It can take between four to six weeks to remove fly-tipped waste depending on the legal process involved if the waste is hazardous. The relevant agency will deal with the problem within 24 hours. For high risk waste, the response is likely to be within the hour.
 

The Council will remove illegally dumped rubbish from the public highway or Council owned land within 2 working days.  For larger accumulations, the Council will work with the Environment Agency to arrange for the removal of the waste.  The removal of fly-tipping from private land is the owner's responsibility however; we will provide advice on its removal.

Fly-tipping is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 and various Highways Acts

Fly-tipping fines can be up to £20,000 and/or six months' imprisonment.

 

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