FIGURES show that Carmarthenshire is in the top five performing local authorities in Wales for fly-tipping enforcement.
The number of recorded fly-tipping incidents in the county fell from 1,438 in 2013/14 to 1,306 in 2014/15*.
Environmental enforcement officers carried out a total of 1208 investigations last year as well as 101 ‘duty of care’ related inspections.
Some 245 warning letters were sent out and the authority prosecuted six individuals for fly-tipping offences resulting in fines.
Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection Cllr Jim Jones, said: “Carmarthenshire operates a proactive strategy when dealing with fly-tipping. Firstly all our officers are trained and equipped to effectively deal with fly-tipping through investigation and prosecution.
“We use covert surveillance to target hotpot areas; this reduces the need for human resources and relies on technology to provide us with the necessary evidence for subsequent prosecutions.
“We also work closely with partner organisations such as the police, Keep Wales Tidy and Natural Resources Wales to help reduce the number of fly-tipping incidents in our area.
“It’s great to see that the figures reflect all of the work we put in to keeping Carmarthenshire a clean and safe place to live.”
Carmarthenshire is part of Fly-tipping Action Wales, a Welsh Government sponsored initiative to help tackle fly-tipping.
Programme Manager at Fly-tipping Action Wales Gary Evans said: “On average there are over 30,000 fly-tipping incidents in Wales a year, the equivalent of one incident per hour, costing tax payers millions in clean-up costs. And it’s not just the price of illegal dumping; it’s also a criminal offence and a waste of valuable resources.
“We work with over 50 partners, including the 22 local authorities across Wales to reduce the number of cases of fly-tipping. Local authorities play an important part in the prevention and clearance of fly-tipping, and have done a fantastic job educating their local communities about fly-tipping and we look forward to seeing this work continue in the future.”
* Figures published by Welsh Government: https://statswales.wales.gov.uk/Catalogue/Environment-and-Countryside/Fly-tipping
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