Next to street corners, roadsides and highways- fly-tipping, rubbish and litter has become a regular but sour sight for the residents in the city.
From sofas to mattresses, rubbish of all shapes and sizes is finding its way onto your pavements and even your doorstep.
Fly-tipping is defined as the ‘illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a license to accept it’.
It’s the unauthorised nature of this action that has plagued the council and has left many wondering how local services will tackle the hotspots, that provide the perfect opportunity for this to occur.
According to the The Furniture Recycling Group (TFR) , the amount of waste that is left illegally is said to have the cost the British taxpayer and the waste industry a total of £604 million a year.
The Lincoln City Council has the power to fine offenders up to £400 since 2016 and most of the subsequent cases are heard at a magistrates’ court, where the greatest prison term is 12 months.
Fines up to a maximum of £50,000 may also be issued.
In September 2018, there was over a 1.5% increase in the amount of fly-tipping incidents recorded and with 423 reported incidents last year (as of July 2018), it shows how the crisis has reached ‘epidemic proportions’.
Out of 997,553 incidents last year, only 2,243 were dealt with successfully in court. This highlights the extent of this frustrating problem and how the courts are finding it hard to reprimand individuals involved.
Many have urged for ‘free bulky collections’ in order to reduce waste crime, however the unpredictability of dumping and the sheer amount of waste that is accumulated, makes it expensive and extremely difficult to dispose of the rubbish in question.
The closure of recycling centres, in contrast to the suggested ‘laziness and greediness of British public ‘presumed by certain council officials in Buckinghamshire, is to said to be the blame for some places becoming rather ‘unsightly’.
The cost of clearance for local authorities in England for 2018/19 in relation to fly-tipping, was over £15 million.The Great British Spring Clean & ‘Keep it Bin it’ are anti-litter campaigns in Britain, that encourage people to take more responsibility for their waste disposal.
Clean Lincoln Everywhere and Now (C.L.E.A.N.), has been a free community service that has aimed to clear the streets of Lincoln since its removal of waste and litter on Tritton Road, back in October. Through the use of litter pick events and clearance meet-ups, volunteers such as Kevin Elliott are hoping that Lincoln remains a ‘relatively clutter free-zone’ with more people coming forward.
C.L.E.A.N have hubs situated at the NK1 Leisure Centre and at the Sincil Bank Stadium.
The Fly-tipping Watch Spalding and Local are another example of a Facebook group in Lincolnshire, which has taken the necessary steps to ensure that potential perpetrators involved in this illegal practice, are caught. As an emerging overseer in the UK’s Growing Litter Army, it represents how other residents in the county are looking to solve the problem directly.
Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, previously called a special summit on the 15th February investigating this growing menace, which has blighted both the county’s beautiful countryside and districts.
What to do if you witness or you’re subject to fly-tipping in the city of Lincoln?
Contact the City of Lincoln Council and report the incident using this link: https://www.lincoln.gov.uk/resident/litter-public-land-and-flytipping/flytipping/.
They aim to remove all fly-tipping incidents on public land within 24 hours and they offer various waste collection services, to dispose of waste legally.
For more information on fly-tipping and the negative effects that are associated with illegal waste, visit the Keep Britain Tidy page.