A Bristol woman has been ordered to pay a total of £931 in fines and costs after South Gloucestershire Council prosecuted her following the discovery of fly-tipped bin bags in Filton.
Faith Okwudifele, 30 of Glen Park, Bristol appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on 8 December. She pleaded guilty to fly-tipping and was handed a £392 fine, ordered to pay costs of £382 and a victim surcharge of £157, making a total of £931.
The court heard that on 26 May 2025 a lone female was captured on CCTV cameras operated by South Gloucestershire Council as she fly-tipped a number of black bin bags on Northville Road, Filton, on two separate occasions. The area is a hotspot for fly-tipping and has been monitored by the council for some time with a number of offences and offenders identified.
The council’s investigators found packaging addressed to Faith Okwudifele amongst the waste, who was living on Northville Road at the time.
Okwudifele was contacted by the council’s environmental enforcement officers and invited for interview at the council’s offices on 25 June. Photographs of the waste and the evidence were presented to her and she admitted that it was her in the footage, but was unable to offer any reasonable excuse for depositing the waste on the roadside. Okwudifele was advised she would be reported for summons for the offence of fly-tipping.
Councillor Sean Rhodes, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “Fly-tipping harms the environment and blights our communities and countryside. We all have a duty to dispose of our waste in a responsible manner and there’s never an excuse to dump rubbish on the roadside or in a public space.
“There are a number of legitimate options for waste removal and in this instance the black bags could have easily been deposited at one of the area’s Sort It recycling centres.
“Prosecutions like these protect our environment and create cleaner and safer places for our communities. These are key priorities of the Liberal Democrat/ Labour partnership.”
Residents and businesses are advised to only give their rubbish to an Environment Agency registered waste carrier.
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.
Household waste can be taken to the council’s Sort It recycling centres where it can be disposed of at no cost www.southglos.gov.uk/sortitcentres
Residents who see illegal fly-tipping are encouraged to report it by contacting the council’s StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000, emailing streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or visiting www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping
