by Michael Smith (Veshengro)Fly tipping of rubbish seems to be on the increase everywhereEver since the changes in refuse collection in many many local authorities those with connections to parks, open spaces and countryside and their management see and report more and more incidents of fly tipping.
While it used to be that fly tipping would be an occasional occurrence and it would generally be building refuse or tree clipping that a “tree surgeon” dumped now it is household rubbish of all kinds and green waste.
This is, however, hardly surprising seeing that so many local authorities have gone over to a fortnightly refuse collection and/or charge so much per bin liner per week and/or will not permit more than one bin bag put out per week and also charge horrendous annual fees for small little bags for removing garden rubbish (green waste) that once would be collected free.
The biggest problem in the UK is that the governments, local and central alike, seem to like to fine and charge people rather than to give them (financial) incentives to go recycling, and such.
While the amount of waste collected from the kerbside may be going down and hence the waste going into landfill via standard refuse collection trucks the amount of fly tipped rubbish, on the other hand, in parks, open spaces and countryside, as also back alleys in towns and cities, is on the increase; in some case the increase has been 100% plus.
The entire idea of fortnightly rubbish collections and the fines and charges and all that are rather a shot in the foot as the cleaning up of the dumped rubbish costs time and money – more than that what is being saved. Only, often it comes from different budgets and hence no one seems to notice the link and it goes through different sets of statistics. While there are savings on one side no one notices the increase in costs for cleaning up fly tipped rubbish on the other side and no one of those that sit in ivory towers seem to see the link between the two factors, namely the reduction of waste collection, e.g. from weekly down to fortnightly; the silly ideas of just one bin liner per household or otherwise extra charge; and all that, and the increase in fly tipped refuse. It would appear that only the guys on the ground, namely park staff and countryside management staff seem to – at least some of them – make the connection between the two, as do many ordinary residents of areas where this is happening.
While in the statistics the fact that there is less rubbish from the standard household and trade waste collections going into landfills is being highlighted it seems to be forgotten that somewhere along the line the fly tipped rubbish also will go into landfill. It is therefore a rather doubtful set of statistics that state that there is less going into landfill.
Maybe the departments need to compare data and then, and only then, will we get a true picture and maybe, just maybe, the authorities will figure out that there may be a better way than charging and fining people into becoming “green”, as that does not work.
In order to stop our parks, open spaces, countryside and back alleys of villages, towns and cities from drowning in fly tipped rubbish we must find another way. That way can only be to encourage people – by incentives, whether financial – though best – or other wise – to bring their refuse for recycling. It works in the USA for instance with recycling centers paying good money for aluminium drinks cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, etc., with people making a living from going around and picking up such cans, bottles, and such like from the countryside and also even from out of the municipal litter bins in towns and parks, and elsewhere.
It is a proven fact that most offenders in the realm of fly tipping are never ever caught or brought before the courts and, therefore, people will continue to dispose of their rubbish elsewhere if the keep being charged more and more for the municipal rubbish collections, and when they have to pay at the centers for the disposal of their refuse, or face additional charges and fines for putting out a rubbish bin at the wrong day and such.
Where does that leave parks and open spaces? The short answer to this is “covered in trash”.
So, what can be done about it? Fines only work as a deterrent if people are actually caught fly tipping and are convicted. The chances of this happening are, however, relatively low. Out of a 1000 people who commit such acts of fly tipping probably less than 990 are being caught and convicted; hence there is no deterrent. And education is also, more likely a lost cause.
The only feasible way to go is that of financial incentives to get recyclables to the recycling centers, whether those are operated by the municipalities or the private sector, like in the USA, and to stop the stupidity as to waste collection regulations as they stand at present, e.g. the fines for bins out at the wrong day; refusal to empty bins where there is a little more rubbish in them than there, maybe, should be in there, and all that. If we do not get sensible now we will see an ever increasing amount of fly tipping and of rubbish littering our open spaces.
Time for a real good rethink at government level, local and central.© M Smith (Veshengro), August 2008
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