Fly-tipping, also known as fly-dumping or illegal dumping is the appalling practice of dumping junk and rubbish in out of sight, open spaces such as forests, paddocks, creeks, remote farmlands and anywhere else possible.
Fly-dumping is illegal in the entire UK, but unfortunately such nasty occurrences are evident. Statistics of the last two calendar years show that fly dumping is becoming a problem for many local councils and counties. One of the possible ways for dealing with this problem, suggested to local councils was to organise and offer residents and businesses free access to bulky item rubbish removals. If the problem was disregarded initially as such occurrences were too little and too far apart to pay attention to, today fly dumping is getting to be a real problem.
Unofficial statistics for twenty twelve have shown that there were nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand recorded incidents of fly dumping on public land in the entire United Kingdom. Fortunately, if that is the right word, there has been a decrease of nearly ten percent in such cases as compared to previous years. And when you think specialised rubbish removals are cheap, efficient and fuss-free, you wonder why people resort to fly dumping. Fly tipping costs local councils in the UK, thirty three million pounds, yes the figure with the six zeros, in cleaning and restoring damages from dumping rubbish. Unfortunately fly tipping is extremely hard to catch and follow up on.
Out of the nearly three quarter of a million cases recorded last year, only an insignificant amount of violators have been prosecuted – just over half a percent to be exact. The battle against fly tipping costs local councils fifteen to twenty million pounds each year. So, add this figure to the thirty mil damage bill left by fly tippers every year, and the final number is staggering. Imagine what can be done with fifty million pounds!
If the money was invested in development of better rubbish removal and clearance practices, London and the UK would be a much cleaner place – not that it isn’t now, but still. Keep in mind that the above figures relate to fly tipping on public ground. The same practice also takes place on private land, and owners’ clearance and management costs add up to the hefty figure of fifty million pounds per year. In total, fly tipping costs the UK hundred million pounds annually.
