It’s never fun to clean up after someone else’s mess – in the case of fly-tipping, or illegal dumping in the UK, it not only is costly to address but also means you run the risk of being held liable if it leads to environmental damage.
Citing figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a report by
Farming UK noted over a million fly-tipping incidents British councils had to deal with in the past year. The clean-up cost? A whopping £58 million.
If you think that’s bad, then consider that the numbers do not include incidents and costs for private property such as farms. According to the report, farmers face an average clearing cost of £1,000 per fly-tipping incident.
While farmers are aware of this burden and the need to maintain the countryside, there’s another side of this rubbish issue that should be brought to light.
“I don’t think that farmers are as aware that, should they fail to deal with incidences of fly-tipping on their land and it leads to environmental damage, they could be held liable under the Environmental Protection Act 1990,” said William Nicholl, director of rural at insurance specialist
Lycetts, as quoted by the report.
He added: “With many authorities looking at introducing charges for bulky waste and organic waste collections and charging for dumping waste at council-run tips, there is a fear that fly-tipping incidents on farmland will increase.”
Nicholl also stressed that rubbish dumped on private land should be disposed of properly. “By failing to remove the waste or moving it on to public land, you will leave yourself open to prosecution and could face fines of tens of thousands of pounds,” he said.
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