CARDIFF surpassed Newport as the area with the most illegal rubbish dumping last year, earning the unwanted title of Wales’ fly-tipping capital.
Newport had the second-highest reports of fly-tipping last year, with 6,264 incidents reported to the city council in that time, marking a 17% improvement.
Fly-tipping in Newport has generally increased over the past decade, meaning news of the recent drop in reports has been welcomed by the city council’s cabinet member for waste, Yvonne Forsey, who said the local authority was “committed to keeping our city clean and free from waste”.
New Wales-wide fly-tipping figures also reveal the huge sums councils have to spend on clearing up illegally-dumped rubbish.
In Newport, the council paid £236,000 to clean up fly-tipping last year alone, and in the past decade spending has totalled a whopping £1.53 million.
Bin bags were by far the type of waste most commonly fly-tipped last year in the city, making up nearly half (49%) of all reported incidents.
And the most common areas for people to illegally dump their waste were roadsides (92% of cases), council land (5%) and footpaths (2%).
The figures also reveal how difficult it is to catch culprits. Despite thousands of fly-tipping incidents, just 12 people were fined and a further two offenders received a discharge.
Newport City Council has only issued 47 fines for fly-tipping in the past decade – but the 12 culprits penalised last year still represents one of the best success rates of any Welsh local authority.
“I’m proud that once again, Newport is one of the top two performing local authorities in Wales for fly-tipping enforcement,” Cllr Forsey said.
“There is no excuse for fly-tipping whatsoever,” she added. “It is a blight on our city and can pose serious harm to wildlife and our natural environment.
“We are committed to keeping our city clean and free from waste, and we will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach against anyone found engaging in fly-tipping.”
Neil Harrison, from the organisation Fly-Tipping Action Wales, said: “It remains the case that around 70% of all fly-tips contain waste from households, which is why we are urging residents to protect themselves from unregistered illegal waste carriers and asking them to always check with Natural Resources Wales that the person they use to remove any excess waste from their home is a registered waste carrier.”
Anyone who fails to do so could face a fixed penalty notice of £300, or a fine up to £5,000 and a criminal record if the case is taken to court. The person found guilty of fly-tipping the waste can receive an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.
