THIS picture shows the kind of waste which is illegally dumped around Colchester. In just 30 minutes driving along the roads of north Essex, the Gazette as able to collect enough dumped furniture to create an entire living room.
    On Aldercar Road, Copford, we collected:
a red three-piece suite,
a glass-topped coffee table,
a living room door,
a cooker,
a fridge,
a glass-fronted black wooden cabinet,
a small portable television.
    Anyone caught fly tipping, or responsible for dumped waste, can expect to get a £300 fixed penalty notice – if they are taken to court, the fine can be anything up to £50,000. Already this year, six people have been handed a fixed penalty notice.
    Dave McManus, waste and transport manager at Colchester Council, said his enforcement officers will continue their crackdown. He said: “We don’t feel the problem with flytipping is enormous in Colchester but I think that is because we have enforcement officers. There really is no excuse for flytipping because our refuse services will take virtually any waste you have. “It costs just £22 to have us come and collect a three-piece suite if you want to get rid of it – the alternative is a £300 fine if you dump it.”
    The law changed recently which put the duty of care on the householder. Mr McManus said: “If you pay someone to take your waste away, then you must check they are properly licensed to dispose of it. “If they aren’t and they dump it, the fine will land on the householder when we trace it back to them.
    “We are also stepping up our street cleansing because we realise there is always going to be some rubbish we have to pick up but we’re also going to step up our enforcement. We want people to remove their own rubbish and see they won’t get away with it if they don’t dispose of it properly.”


Click on the links below to view other related articles:
We can tidy mess up within a day
There's no excuse for people to dump junk