A new guide that will help landowners and land managers tackle fly-tipping has been published today (Friday 3 November 2006).
The 'Tackling Fly-tipping' guide, produced by the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), aims to provide support to victims and potential victims of fly-tipping on preventing and dealing with the problem.
Alan D'Arcy, Waste Policy Manager at the Environment Agency and chair of the NFTPG said: "Over one million fly-tipping incidents were recorded in 2005/6 across England and Wales, costing an estimated £100m in total to clean up. It is seen as a major problem by over three-quarters of landowners and affects many farmers at some time in their life.
"This highlights the scale of the problem, which can have great financial impacts on landowners when they are victims of this illegal waste dumping. However, there are steps landowners can take to prevent and deal with fly-tipping on their land."
Working together with the environmental charity ENCAMS, this NFTPG guide gives landowners advice on:
what landowners should do if they come across fly-tipping
what can be done to help the relevant authorities catch and prosecute the culprits such as taking photographs
tips on how to prevent being a victim of fly-tipping including installing gates and barriers
The NFTPG is also launching its website today, www.nftpg.org, which provides information on the group's membership and activities to a wider audience. It also will act as a route for group members to share best practice and provide useful links to key information resources.
Fly-tipping is a criminal activity that can cause serious pollution of the environment, can be a risk to human health and can harm wildlife and farm animals. It also spoils our local neighbourhoods and quality of life.
The National Fly-tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) brings together organisations with a common aim: to come up with solutions to the problem of fly-tipping. Chaired by the Environment Agency, its membership includes regulatory bodies, Government departments, and organisations with a wide membership of landowners and land managers such as Network Rail and the NFU.
To obtain a copy of the publication visit www.nftpg.org.