Saturday, November 9, 2024

Sofas dumped as ‘waste crime’ crackdown promised

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Sefton Council has promised to crackdown on fly tippers after another huge mound of rubbish was found dumped behind an abandoned building.

Sofas, shopping trolleys and large sacks of industrial waste were discovered on Wednesday May 15 on private land behind the old International Pub in Seaforth.




Fly-tipping is a crime in England, a significant blight on local communities and can cause severe environmental harm. It can also undermine legitimate waste businesses where unscrupulous operators undercut those operating within the law.

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Fly-tipping is defined as the illegal disposal of household, industrial, commercial or other ‘controlled’ waste. ‘Controlled’ waste includes garden refuse and larger domestic items such as fridges, sofas and mattresses.

The Local Government Association has previously gone on record to show the enormous cost of fly tipping to councils across the UK and characterised the offence as ‘environmental vandalism’ and ‘waste crime’.

According to the latest statistics published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), local authorities in England were called to 1.08 million fly-tipping incidents in 2022/23. The most prevalent fly tipping incidents were those of ‘lorry load’ size or larger and the cost of clearance to local authorities was £13.2m.

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