PEOPLE caught dumping rubbish now face even tougher fines than before.
Council enforcement officers now have additional powers and can serve people with a fixed penalty notice of up to £350 on anyone caught fly tipping even small amounts of waste.
In 2015/16 over 36,000 fly-tipping incidents were recorded in Wales, costing the Welsh taxpayer more than £2million to clear up.
Cllr Philip Hughes, executive board member for enforcement, said: “Of course we would prefer that we didn’t have to issue fines and people had respect for their environment by properly disposing of their waste. But, when people have complete disregard for their environment, communities and fellow residents, we will not hesitate to issue fixed penalty notices.
“The fact that we now have additional powers and can impose even more expensive fines, we hope that people will think twice before fly-tipping.
“We have four recycling centres in the county, and over 150 recycling banks, we also have a kerbside collection and can arrange to collect bulky items from households – there really isn’t any excuse to dump rubbish and expect someone else to clear it up.”
Householders, landlords and business owners are responsible and legally obliged to manage waste from their property safely and appropriately.
Whether people leave waste at the side of a litter bin, on the ground in a recycling centre or dump down a country lane, each case is classed as fly tipping and therefore a crime.
Anyone who pays for someone to take waste away is also legally responsible for ensuring the person is properly licensed – otherwise, if the rubbish is found dumped and traced back to their household or business, they too will face a fine.
People can search the public register of licensed waste carriers atwww.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk or by calling 0300 0653000.
Help keep Carmarthenshire clean. For more advice on fly tipping and how to report it search the ‘recycling bins and litter’ page on the council’s website www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales
