This week, Keep Britain Tidy launched 'Fight Fly-Tipping Fortnight'. This is a national campaign to raise public awareness and tackle the problem of rogue ‘white van’ operators who lure residents with cheap rubbish removal deals on social media and then dump waste illegally in streets, lay-bys, and green spaces. The campaign aims to educate people about disposing of household waste.
Bexley Council does not tolerate fly-tipping of any kind, and we are clamping down on it with more joint police operations to identify unlicensed vehicles and individuals, higher fines and other new measures.
In the past few months, the Council’s Enviro-Crime Officers working in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and Environment Agency have seized several vehicles suspected of involvement in fly-tipping offences within the borough.
The first vehicle, a white Volkswagen, was suspected of the unauthorised depositing of waste in Foots Cray Meadow. The second vehicle a white Mercedes Sprinter, registration number KV61 WPZ, was seized on Westwood Lane, Welling.
If anyone has any information on illegal waste carriers, please also email AreaTeamSupport@bexley.gov.uk.
If you are hiring someone to remove your rubbish, you must always make sure you use a registered waste carrier or you could be fined. Information about licensed waste carriers can be obtained from the Environment Agency's website.
Over 70 new signs have also been put up at fly-tipping hotspots throughout the borough to deter criminals, and stricter penalties have been introduced with the maximum fixed penalty notice increased from £400 to £1,000. Four £1,000 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) were recently issued to businesses responsible for large-scale waste deposits in the borough. To date this year more than 132 fixed penalty notices of either £200, £500 or £1000 have been issued to residential properties, individuals or businesses in Bexley who have illegally fly-tipped their rubbish.
Councillor Richard Diment, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said:
We will not tolerate any form of fly-tipping in this borough and those caught dumping waste can expect to be prosecuted and fined. Along with more joint operations with the police to target illegal waste carriers we need local people to work with us to keep our borough clean and free of rubbish. I hope these new fly tipping signs will make it easier for residents to report incidents and that along with higher fines and increased enforcement activity we can put an end to this criminal behaviour which only serves to blight our community.”
It is quick and easy to report fly-tipping to the Council on the FixMyStreet website.
Please make sure you take a note of as many details as possible, including the vehicle registration, type of vehicle and any company names/logos, time of offence and description and number of people involved. If you have any video/dashcam footage, please also email AreaTeamSupport@bexley.gov.uk.