We speak to CEO of Keep Britain Tidy, Allison Ogden-Newton, about the growing issue of fly-tipping in the UK, instances of which are reported to have gone up by 6%. We ask what the underlying issues are and how we can try to fix them.
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00:00Seeing fly tipping going up by 6% is an absolute tragedy.
00:04We're now over 1.1 million instances and it doesn't take me to tell people that it's a real problem because we can all see it every day.
00:14We need a national take-back scheme.
00:16When larger items are delivered to our homes, the old one needs to be taken away.
00:21And we need to crack down on the criminals that are turning communities into toxic waste dumps.
00:26Those people that are coming to the door and offering for very small amounts of cash to take your rubbish away, they are not going to dispose of it legally.
00:36They are going to dump it.
00:37And this is such a widespread problem.
00:39We're seeing that incredible amount of fly tipping up and down the country everywhere.
00:46I know that a lot of councils are offering either free or lower rate large item collection services.
00:54Is there more the councils could be doing?
00:56What we do need is to help local authorities help people make it easier for everyone to do the right thing.
01:03So councils coming to your door and taking your rubbish away, at least then you'll know it will obviously will be disposed of legally.
01:11We need more of that and less of the cowboy.
01:14The government has pledged to crack down on fly tipping with a new crime policing bill.
01:20How effective do you think that increased enforcement, tougher penalties, the things that they've suggested will be in addressing the problem?
01:27Well, we're really encouraged by the government's position and we think absolutely we need a crackdown on the criminals.
01:34We need an urgent and really dragonian reform of the waste carriers license scheme, which at the moment pretty much anybody can get hold of.
01:45And even if they've been found guilty of fly tipping, they can continue to hold the license, which we find absolutely staggering.
01:52Is it a case of better education or is it, like you said, stronger enforcement of rules or are councils going to need to be better at giving other options in terms of getting rid of larger items?
02:06So, yes, we need education. It's a crime not to care.
02:09You need to check you're dealing with a licensed waste carrier, which means you need to go to the Environment Agency's website.
02:15If they're asking for cash, 99.9% of the time they will not be a legitimate operator.
02:21So don't call for that.
02:24And also, yes, by all means, even if it is more expensive, use the council system.