AM Welcomes New Rules on Fly-tipping

Campaigning Llanelli  Assembly Member Lee Waters has welcomed new rules that make it easier for councils to take action against those who hand their waste to people who go on to fly-tip.

Local councils will now have the power to issue fines to people who don’t ensure their waste is disposed of properly.

Lee Waters AM said:

“I’ve been campaigning against litter since being elected to the Assembly, and I’ve pushed the Government to bring in these changes. I’m really pleased my campaign has been successful and we’ve been able to take action to tackle litter and fly-tipping.”

The plans, passed in the Senedd (19 February) mean a fixed penalty notice of £300 – reduced to £150 if paid early – could be given to households that breach their “waste duty of care”.

Households will have to ensure that any waste they dispose of is taken care of properly, and disposed at an authorised site.

Councils will keep the money raised to put towards waste enforcement and clear-up costs. Currently, Carmarthenshire County Council deals with around 1300 incidents of fly tipping a year, at a cost of up to £200,000.

Lee Waters AM said:

“We know that Llanelli has a fly-tipping problem, and research shows 60% of the waste being dumped originates from domestic households. We all need to do our part in tackling this issue, and that includes making sure our waste is disposed of properly.”

“The need to bring in this change was raised in the Litter Task Force I set up with the council to tackle waste and fly-tipping across Llanelli. I was able to feed this back to the Welsh Government who have now acted to tackle this issue across Wales.”

“If you pay or allow someone to take waste away from your home it’s really important that you check that they’re properly disposing of it. You can do this by contacting the Council or Natural Resources Wales.”