Under new plans released by the government on Monday, households in England & Wales will no longer be required to pay to dispose of any waste created by DIY activities.
Currently, some local authorities can charge for the removal and disposal of waste like plasterboard, bath units, and bricks. However, the technical consultation will propose changes that would make this impossible.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that the move is part a fresh effort to crack down against fly-tipping and could help consumers save up to 10 on each item.
In 2015, the government prohibited individuals from dumping household rubbish at waste centers by charging backdoor fees. However, around a third of local authorities charge for certain types DIY waste. They apply rules to residents for construction waste.
Jo Churchill, environment minister, stated that enough is enough when it comes to fly-tipping. These egregious incidents cost us 392 million a year, and it is time for us to stop them. I want to ensure that recycling and correct disposal of rubbish is easy, free and accessible for all households. It is not a good idea to be tempted by criminals or rogue operators to fly-tip.
Local authorities dealt with 1.13m flytipping incidents during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, an increase of 16% over the previous year.
Select authorities will receive new council grants totalling 450,000 to help fund a variety of projects to catch fly-tippers and deter them from dumping their waste.
Projects include the installation of CCTV cameras at hotspot locations, educational programmes to change behaviours, and a no bag on the street policy to stop rubbish collection outside of business premises.
Buckinghamshire council will also use artificial intelligence to spot fly-tipping hotspots. These include rapid deployment cameras, automatic number-plate recognition, and automatic number-plate recognition. These tools allow investigating officers to quickly track down the culprits by linking the fly-tipping suspects’ vehicles to the disposed-of items.
The grant will also be granted to Durham, Newham and Eastleigh Borough, Stevenage and Winchester, Dover and Thanet, Telford, Wrekin, Basingstoke, Deane, and Telford and Wrekin.
The government is also considering making manufacturers of furniture and mattresses, which are most frequently dumped, responsible for the disposal costs.
Jacob Hayler (executive director of the Environmental Services Association) said he was pleased with the range and variety of measures taken by the government in an effort to stop this deeply antisocial and criminal behaviour.
He stated that HWRCs can help individuals recycle household waste materials. [household waste and recycling centres]Stopping this material from falling into hands of organised criminals is of paramount importance. This can lead to fly-tipping and larger-scale fly-tipping.
Digital waste-tracking is the process of recording data from the point that the rubbish is produced up to the point it is disposed off, recycled or reused. This will allow regulators to detect illegal waste activities more easily.
Marcus Gover, chief executive of Wrap, a sustainability charity, stated: Minimizing waste is key to this, and grants to reduce fly-tipping in England and Wales are necessary for preventing the environmental damage caused by this illegal activity.