A Bristol woman has been ordered to pay a total of £214 in fines and costs after being prosecuted for waste related offences following the discovery of a fly-tip at Trench Lane, Winterbourne, South Gloucestershire.
Aniela Popescu, 31, of Kimberley Road in Fishponds, Bristol was prosecuted by South Gloucestershire Council’s environmental enforcement team after a number of black bin bags containing household waste including used nappies, were discovered and cleared from a gateway on Trench Lane in March 2020.
Paperwork was found amongst the waste relating to Popescu’s home address in Fishponds, Bristol. The Council’s environmental enforcement officers attended the address of the defendant and she was interviewed under caution. Popescu identified the waste as hers and admitted responsibility for the fly-tip. She stated that she had an excess of household waste including nappies, which she’d dumped along with a number of black bags on her way to work. She said she placed them in a gateway where she had regularly seen waste left after a local car boot sale had taken place.
Appearing at Bristol Magistrates Court on 11 January, Popescu pleaded guilty to the illegal disposal of waste and was fined £80, along with £100 in costs and a victim surcharge of £34.
Cabinet Member for Communities and Local Place Cllr Rachael Hunt said: “We all have a responsibility to correctly dispose of our household waste and there really is no excuse for this type of behaviour. Fly-tipping is a blight on our countryside, has a negative impact on our communities and local environment, and we all have a responsibility to make sure that our waste is disposed of in the appropriate manner.
“Our zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping in South Gloucestershire means that anyone who fly-tips here is up to five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country. Our award winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence, so if you fail in your duty of care and allow rubbish to be fly-tipped in South Gloucestershire, you can expect to be caught and brought before the courts.”
Rather than directly issuing fly-tipping Fixed Penalty Notices, which is one tool that can be used by local authorities in some circumstances to combat fly-tipping, South Gloucestershire Council adopts a different approach to tackle the problem. Our environmental enforcement team co-ordinates education and enforcement action, gathering evidence to pursue offenders through the courts.
Residents and businesses are advised to only give their rubbish to an Environment Agency registered waste carrier.
Contractors should ensure that they hold a Registered Waste Carriers Licence and they comply with the Waste Transfer Note requirements.
You can carry out these simple steps to make sure your waste is disposed of legally:
- Ask for a copy of the company’s waste carrier registration certificate and ask where the waste is being taken. Legitimate firms will be happy to provide this information.
- Do not be tempted to use people offering cheap waste clearance on sites such as Facebook and Gumtree unless you have confirmed that they are registered with the Environment Agency
- Check whether the waste carrier is registered by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506 or by checking on their website https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers
- Ask for a registered trading address and contact telephone number for the trader and get a receipt.
Unwanted goods and household or garden waste can all be disposed of at no cost via the council’s Sort It centres.
Residents who see illegal fly-tipping are encouraged to report it by using our web form at www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping or emailing streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or contacting the StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000.
