The illegal and highly consequential practice of fly tipping is one of the UK’s most problematic rubbish clearance problems. Last October 2017, the BBC reported that cleaning up fly tipped sites cost the UK an astounding $58 MILLION, and this doesn’t include the cost of investigating and prosecuting these crimes. Furthermore, the BBC reported just last month that fly tipping in England had risen by seven percent from the year before and by six percent in Wales over that same period.
Clearly, something needs to be done about this illegal rubbish clearance problem and partnerships between local councils, businesses, organizations, and private individuals have been forged in an effort to catch those involved in fly tipping so they can be prosecuted. Closed-circuit television cameras, which have also been pegged “fly tipping cctv cameras,” are playing an increasingly important role in this effort. Not only do they catch fly tippers red-handed, right in the middle of the act, they provide definitive proof which helps prosecutors obtain convictions in fly tipping cases.
ViPA UK is one of the leading companies in the UK to design and manufacture fly tipping cctv cameras. In working with officials to improve the conviction rate of fly tippers, they emphasize the need for councils and their partners to have a strategy in place before the cameras are deployed. In other words, installing hidden cameras is not enough to get the conviction and deter fly tipping.
Councils need to do some due diligence in knowing where to place the cameras for maximum impact and they need a plan in place to quickly collect the data they provide. Councils, law enforcement, citizens, and land owners also have to decide if the cameras should be hidden or overtly placed. Hidden cameras will capture some of the most notorious fly tippers at hot spots while overt cameras serve as a good deterrent to people who may be thinking about fly tipping. Ultimately, a combination of hidden and overt cameras seems to work best.
One anti fly tipping campaign that has been very successful is Croydon Council’s “Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride” campaign. Another one that has worked well is Durham County Council’s “Operation Stop It” campaign. Both put a target on the head of anyone who engages in illegal rubbish clearance by using cctv cameras and also by having an excellent plan on what to do with the evidence and having multiple partners. Both of these local anti fly tipping campaigns also as a great examples to other councils and interested parties as to what can work really well in their own communities.
When Croydon Council’s “Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride” campaign started in 2014, there were zero prosecutions for fly tipping, although the borough was blighted with this problem. Now they have one of the highest fly tipping prosecution rates in the country, with successful convictions too. According to a February 1, 2018 article in the Croydon Guardian, they have now prosecuted one hundred eighty-eight fly tippers and seized about thirty vehicles associated with transporting the illegal rubbish clearance! Fly tipping cameras are able to capture license plates and they help prove the identity of the fly tipping culprits.
The Don’t Mess With Croydon don’t stop with mere prosecutions either. They actually “name and shame” convicted fly tippers, publishing lists of fly tipper names, where they live, and where they illegally dumped the rubbish clearance. These lists stay up a long time, are published on the official government site, and they get propagated to the local papers! This should serve as a significant deterrent!
“Operation Stop It” is the most intensive crackdown on fly tippers that Durham County has ever seen. Partners include the local council, the Environmental Agency, citizens who have banded together watch for neighborhood crime, and charity groups like Crimestoppers who aid the police in receiving tips and solving crimes. Neighbourhood wardens have also been trained to stop waste removal carriers to check to see if they have the proper paperwork to prove they are licensed — many don’t!
According to an article in The Northern Echo, seventeen cases of fly tipping were prosecuted after twenty-four CCTV battery operated cameras were installed at illegal rubbish clearance hotspots in Durham County. Most of these cases could not have been prosecuted in the more traditional ways of getting tips and or checking the fly tipped rubbish clearance for evidence of who it belongs to. Even when evidence of ownership is found in the dumped rubbish, it is often someone who has hired a waste removal man and van service without knowing they were illegal fly tippers!
Unfortunately, fly tippers normally lure UK citizens and businesses in by advertising incredible rates that are lower than legitimate rubbish clearance services like Clearabee’s very popular on demand man and van service or Clearabee’s beebag service.
This is an example of why it is so important for citizens and businesses to always ask if the waste removal carrier is licensed and ask to see the waste transfer certificate where ever you live in the world.
If you use Clearabee for your rubbish removal service, you will not have to worry about this as they well-known to be 100 percent above-board in how they handle the rubbish they clear and they automatically email you a copy of a waste transfer slip. As an added bonus, they recycle or reuse about ninety percent of everything they clear!
Make sure you garbage or rubbish removal services are looking out for the health of our environment and the future of our planet. Keep our planet clean and safe for our children and all future generations!
