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Date: April 24, 2024 Wed

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Results for fly-tipping

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Author: Beasley Associates

Title: Tip of the Binberg: Exploring the Full Cost of Waste Crime in Greater Manchester

Summary: Beasley Associates and RGR were commissioned by Dsposal, supported by the GC Business Growth Hub, to deliver a study on waste crime in Greater Manchester with a focus on flytipping. The research assessed the costs of waste crime in the region, considered why and how waste crime happens, analysed public awareness of their legal duties with waste and identified opportunities to intervene, recognising that local authorities, businesses and communities are tackling the challenge and building momentum for their efforts. Fly-tipping is a significant and persistent problem in Greater Manchester, with local authorities reporting nearly 53,000 separate incidents in 2016/17 - 144 incidents for every single day of the year, producing an estimated average of nearly 20,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste that year. This endemic illegal activity has a notable negative effect on the Greater Manchester economy. It cost the councils of Greater Manchester nearly 4.9 million pounds in 2016/17 in clearance and enforcement costs, with the revenue from fines and Fixed Penalty Notices barely making a dent in this cost. In addition, a conservative average estimate of around 750,000 pounds represents income lost by not recycling these materials and further to this, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs loses out on VAT and Income Tax on an element of the estimated 3 million pounds a year generated in cash sales by 'man and a van' operators providing waste clearance services in and around Greater Manchester. The circumstances in which this persistent but relatively low-level waste crime breeds are encouraged by the prioritisation by the public of low cost and convenience when choosing waste clearance services (as evidenced by the research commissioned from YouGov), rather than compliance with the public's Duty of Care. Awareness of public legal obligations on waste is low and confused and this is capitalised upon by several 'man and van' waste clearance operators who obfuscate even the best-intentioned members of the public trying to 'do the right thing' and deal with their waste properly and legally. The councils of Greater Manchester are tackling the challenge of fly-tipping and have achieved some success despite the severe restrictions on the resources available to them and the limited effect so far of national campaigns to raise awareness of legal responsibilities on waste for business and householders alike. To make further headway in tackling fly-tipping across Greater Manchester requires all those with an interest to collaborate and build on the substantial efforts already being made in the face of an endemic problem. We have offered some broad recommendations for further consideration. a) Highlight the cost of fly-tipping clearance in any new communications campaigns, as this is money that could be better spent on other local authority services. This approach of using hard hitting financial facts does seem to resonate and find traction with residents who may be less receptive to environmental campaigns. b) Seek to recover more of the costs of clearance through fines and enforcement activities, which presently contribute only modestly towards the total costs. This will require a greater investment in enforcement activities, however it is possible for a sound business case to be developed based on future cost avoidance. c) Devise new communications to localise messages about the importance of staying within the law and being aware of Carriers' Licences and Waste Transfer Notes. This could include targeted social and print media advertising, alongside the waste clearance adverts so that they have prominence in juxtaposition to the classified advertisements and social media pages. d) Focus general communications activity on the need for local action, and highlight distinctive local issues such as back alleys, utilising the existing good practice work of agencies such as Keep Britain Tidy and well developed local campaigns such as Hertfordshire Waste Partnership's Fly-Tipping Campaign. e) Engage the Environment Agency (EA) by consistently supporting them with intelligence on illegal operators, including reporting advertisers erroneously using the EA logo to gain credibility for their service. f) Simplify how householders and businesses can access quality assured information about legal, compliant collectors and waste managers. This could involve some form of validation service for collectors and operators, involving a new collaboration between the GMCA, the ten local district authorities of Greater Manchester, the Environment Agency, representative trade bodies such as the ESA and the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, utilising the expertise of service providers such as Disposal. g) Further research should be commissioned which investigates the true level of knowledge and understanding amongst businesses about their duty of care and explores their main drivers in terms of selecting disposal services. This will provide evidence to judge whether there is any parity between the householder view and local businesses and help provide focus for any subsequent targeted campaign work.

Details: Manchester, England: Beasley Associates & Ray Georgeson Resources for Disposal & GC Business Growth Hub, 2018. 55p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 28, 2019 at: https://ciwm-journal.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Tip-of-the-Binberg-Full-Report.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://dsposal.uk/articles/tip-of-the-binberg/

Shelf Number: 156039

Keywords:
Environmental Crime
Fly-tipping
Illegal Dumping
Illegal Waste
Offences Against the Environment
Waste Management