Mansfield District Council has urged people to dispose of their waste responsibly after more than 2,000 incidents of fly-tipping cost nearly £100,000 to deal with in the district last year.
The council investigates each fly-tip, and the authority issued 12 £400 Fixed Penalty Notices for either fly-tipping or failing in a householder or business's duty of care during 2022/23.
Figures shared with the council's Overview and Scrutiny (Place) Committee last month showed there were a total of 2,133 incidents in 2022/23. According to estimates based on various load size calculations, these cost £99,054 to clear up.
In 2021/22 they recorded 1,259 incidents which cost a total of £60,535 to clear.
Although this represents a big increase, the council has allowed for some underreporting of the incident figures while it integrated a new system in 2021/22 to record the data.
The report also revealed that the vast majority of fly tips were on public highways, footpaths, bridleways and on council land.
The most commonly dumped item was general household waste. One incident can represent anything from a single black bag of rubbish to a whole transit van load.
The council has a duty to clear fly tips on public land. They can be reported on the council website at https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/report (opens in new window) or by calling 01623 463463.
Executive Mayor Andy Abrahams said: "Residents are sick and tired of fly-tipping blighting their neighbourhoods.
"The dramatic increase in incidents represents an epidemic that we need to get on top of. Council taxpayers effectively pay for this £100,000 bill to clean up and investigate environmental crimes. Think of what we could do with that money instead!
"It is the equivalent cost of creating a brand new play area or installing ten large items of play equipment to improve existing play areas. It could resurface and refurbish eight of our tennis courts or buy 200 new dual waste litter bins for the district or 285 benches.
"I want to assure residents we are going to increase our efforts to catch the perpetrators as the collective costs of clearing up all of the rubbish is astronomical, and the fines aren’t a sufficient deterrent.”
Every household and business has a legal duty of care to ensure waste from their property is disposed of responsibly. If they employ someone to remove waste, they should always check they are a licensed waste carrier and take verifiable details from them.
If they fail to do this and the waste removed from their property is then fly-tipped by the person they paid to remove it, it could be the householder or business fined or prosecuted for failing in their duty of care.
To help tackle fly-tipping, the council offers free bulky waste collections for households on Oak Tree Lane Estate, Bull Farm Estate, Bellamy Road Estate and parts of Portland ward and Warsop, Church Warsop, Warsop Vale and Meden Vale.
Residents in these priority neighbourhoods qualify for one free collection per year for up to three standard items, such as beds, mattresses, wardrobes, and bagged waste.
They can be booked online in the usual way on the council website via the form at https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/xfp/forms (opens in new window) with no charge to pay for households with postcodes that qualify.
Customers will need an email address to create an account on the customer portal to access the booking form. Bookings for people without internet access can also be made by calling 01623 463463.
Paid-for bulky waste collections are £13 for one item or £24 for two or three items. Each additional item on top of this, up to a maximum of 10 items, is £11 each.
Electrical items, including fridges, freezers, TVs, washing machines, cookers, microwaves and upholstered furniture, need specialist disposal and are charged separately at £17.50 each.
The council cannot collect American-style fridge freezers or hazardous waste, including paint, rubble, tyres, asbestos or gas bottles. However, the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Warsop can accept paint which community groups can then reuse.
Households of six or more people may qualify for an additional general waste bin. Extra recycling bins can be provided to any sized household on request. More information can be found on the council website at https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/bins-recycling/bin-sizes-additional-bins (opens in new window).