Wardens clear up fly-tipper plague
THE Capital’s environmental wardens have been credited with helping trigger a huge reduction in fly-tipping.
The number of complaints to the council has dropped by almost 2000 a year following the introduction of the wardens.
The expansion of the city’s network of community recycling centres is also believed to have helped tackle the problem.
The number of incidents reported to the local authority has dropped by a quarter, from 7733 in 2003 to 5763 last year.
However, dealing with an average of 15 fly-tipping incidents a day costs the council more than 200,000 a year. The local authority was also warned today that it risked undoing its own good work by introducing charges for its uplift service.
Environmental wardens can impose a 50 fixed penalty for fly-tipping. In cases that go to court, the fines can be up to 40,000 with the possibility of up to two years in prison.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city’s environment leader, said: “This reduction is testament to a greater awareness among residents and businesses of their responsibility to deal with their waste in an appropriate manner.
“The proactive work undertaken by the environmental wardens in relation to enforcement and education has had a major impact on the culture of illegal waste presentation.
“However, we must continue to get the message across that fly-tipping is a crime and that those found responsible could face a fixed penalty notice or, in the most serious cases, prosecution and a potential prison sentence.”
The council announced last month that householders are to be restricted to just one free special uplift - where bulky items are collected from the kerbside - per year. Any more will incur a 17.20 charge each time.
Mark Sydenham, spokesman for Friends of the Earth Edinburgh, said: “A reduction is obviously good news and the community recycling facilities have worked well. I think there is now a greater awareness of where unwanted items can be deposited or recycled.
“However, the council needs to realise that not everyone can physically get to the central recycling areas, so introducing charging for bulky uplifts is a retrograde step.
“It will lead to more instances of fly-tipping and undermines all the good work done so far.”
Mark McInnes, the city’s Tory environment spokesman, called for more recycling facilities to be made available. He said: “The biggest gripes I see from my mail bag are from people who are desperate to recycle but can’t because the facilities are not easily at their disposal.”
