Council supports national strategy on littering and fly-tipping

7th October 2013

The Highland Council has fully endorsed the need for a national strategy and a long term campaign aimed at tackling littering and fly-tipping.

In a submission to the Scottish Government’s consultation on “Towards a litter-free Scotland”, the Council backs stronger penalties for littering and fly-tipping and increased emphasis on education and awareness.

Councillor Graham Phillips, Chair, Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee, said: “Tackling litter and fly tipping is a key priority of the Council and our support for a long term campaign of action is reflected in our response to the Scottish Government.”

The response highlights the need to recognise the importance of “street cleansing” and achieving clean streets as well as keeping streets free of litter. It also stresses that littering and fly-tipping are quite distinct and tackling them requires very different forms of campaign, infrastructure and enforcement.

The Council believes increasing a fixed penalty for littering to £80 is the right level, however fly-tipping should carry a greater penalty than the proposed £200. Any fine should cover the clean-up cost and also include an additional financial punishment.

In its submission, the Council says: “Fly-tipping” is in some cases a trivial description for contraventions of The Environmental Protection Act 1990 Section 33. This Council has recently been involved in attempts to locate and prosecute fly-tippers who are engaged in the construction of new household driveways. Each piece of work earns the “contractor” significant income. A Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 is little more than a business expense. Taking such matters to court (as a contravention of Section 33) may not in fact elicit a greater penalty for all of the effort and uncertainty involved.

“The Fixed Penalty Notice should, therefore, be applied at a rate equivalent to a loss in the overall transaction. Therefore if fly-tipping saves an individual £1,000 in disposal costs then the penalty should be commensurate with clean-up costs plus a financial punishment.

“All of those with real “stop powers” must be encouraged to engage and use those powers quickly – in particular: vehicle inspection and seizure (Vosa/Police/SEPA), Trading Practices (Trading Standards/Revenue and Customs).

“Procurators Fiscal must also be challenged to take more cases to court and for penalties at court to reflect public expectation – again the penalty must be greater than the gain.

“For householders fly-tipping an old bed for example a Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 would be appropriate given this could be disposed of free of charge at a recycling centre.”

The introduction of the option to carry out community service could be a viable option to a fixed penalty notice, especially for those under 16. Through organised community clean-ups, the communities blighted by litter would see tangible pay back from those responsible for the environmental degradation of the affected areas.

The Council believes that businesses must play a role in reducing litter and fly-tipping and that only a campaign for the long-term together with enforcement and buy-in by businesses will see real change.

Community clean-ups are also important and the Council fully supports the notion that community groups should receive support from Zero Waste Scotland to increase the number of clean-up activities being performed throughout Scotland.

However, the Council says it is necessary to have in place systems that ensure the good work being performed by community groups does not replicate work already carried out by local councils.

To read the full Council response please click HERE