Sefton Council is backing new proposals to tackle household fly-tipping and waste crime in a bid to keep the borough clean, green and beautiful.



The Council has responded to the Government’s consultation on suggested measures to reduce poor performance at waste sites and introducing a fixed penalty to discourage household waste being fly-tipped.

The new proposals include providing local authorities with the option of fining householders of up to £400 who fail to take ‘reasonable measures’ to ensure their waste is not being illegally dumped.

The Council agrees with this approach but says that more needs to be done around educating householders.

Councillor Paulette Lappin, Cabinet Member for Regulation and Compliance, said:

“In Sefton we want people to feel pride in their environment. Waste crime and fly-tipping really spoils our green environment and while we welcome the Government’s proposals to tackle the problem of unlicensed waste carriers and illegal fly tipping, we believe that householders need better education on the regulations surrounding waste.

“In our experience, when officers are investigating fly tipping incidents that relate to householders, they are often completely unaware that they are still responsible for their waste, even if they’ve paid someone to remove it. They don’t realise that they could be punished if their waste is not disposed of properly.

“A fine would be a deterrent but should really be a last resort, what we need to concentrate on is ensuring all householders know that they have a legal duty of care to ensure that waste is only given to people who are registered waste carriers.

“There needs to be a national campaign to raise awareness of this issue and appropriate funding made available to help local authorities highlight these important messages so that our communities are not blighted by waste crime.”