‘We can follow waste like a trail of blood,’ council warns fly-tippers as fines more than double in a year

A mountain of waste in Hackney. Photograph: Hackney council

Fly-tippers have been warned that council investigators are doing everything in their power to stop rubbish being dumped on Hackney’s streets.

Town Hall bosses said waste that can range from builders’ cast-offs to old mattresses is unsightly and costly to remove.

Last year, the council dished out more than £5,000 in fines for 40 fly-tipping offences – up from £2,000 for 13 offences the previous year. The usual fine for fly-tipping is £400.

It also gave out 15 fines to firms that failed to deal with their waste properly. The £80 penalty is designed to encourage businesses to follow the rules.

The figures were revealed in a report to the council’s corporate committee.

Hackney’s enforcement officers use e-bikes to get around the borough and also work at night – a popular time for people hoping to abandon rubbish rather than pay for its removal.

Enforcement team leader Gavin Avey-Hebditch told the Citizen: “We target circumstances where businesses or private companies dispose of their waste on public roads without any waste agreements with Hackney or another authorised waste carrier like BIFFA or First Mile.

“Getting rid of waste is costly, and some individuals and businesses alike attempt to evade their portion of this expense.”

He said officers sift through evidence to try to catch people fly-tipping, adding: “Like following a trail of blood, rubble dust or construction bits can be observed from the tipping site to the address where the rubble and other construction waste came from.”

“Often, attempts to hide the crime, so to speak, are made by placing the items into the large commercial waste bins at some estates,” Avey-Hebditch revealed.

“They are wrong to think that they cannot be littering as it is in a waste receptacle and, therefore, cannot be fly-tipping either. The legislation covers this badly thought-through deception.”

He warned would-be fly-tippers that investigations go on well into the night.

It is also an offence if residents fail to check that traders removing waste for them dispose of it properly.

Cllr Mete Coban, cabinet member for waste, urged residents to report any cases to help the team build up evidence.

He said: “People try to disguise the fly-tipping. We take it very seriously in Hackney because of the impact on our streets.”

The council will work with residents struggling with storing rubbish between waste collections, he explained, but it “will not tolerate” fly-tipping.

“People deserve to have clean streets,” Coban added.