Illegal fly-tippers better think twice before dumping their goods in Merton as the council’s enforcement team has successfully caught over 170 offenders since July 2005, with 7 offenders being prosecuted.

Merton’s enforcement team works closely with the local Police and the Environment Agency to tackle fly tipping. The council’s most recent prosecution took place on 23 February 2005 when Mr. Sergei Tchavdarov was fined £1,050 at Wimbledon Magistrates Court for seven separate fly tipping offences that took place at the Copper Mill Lane recycling centre.
Mr. Tchavdarov was also ordered to pay the council’s legal and investigation costs of £987.14, bringing the penalty to over £2,000.

Councillor Linda Kirby, Merton Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental quality, said: “The prosecution of Mr. Tchavdarov is another positive step in our fight against fly tipping.

“Our enforcement team and organisations such as the Environment Agency work extremely hard to prove that this environmental crime will not be tolerated.”

In April 2005 a database called FlyCapture was introduced for local authorities to record fly-tipping incidents. The Environment Agency uses the database to focus their resources more effectively, target hot-spot areas and identify trends.

From the FlyCapture database it was found:
Rubbish is illegally dumped somewhere in England every 35 seconds.
Fly tipping costs authorities £100 a minute to clear up.
There are 40 incidents involving multiple lorry-loads being illegally dumped every day.
Almost 28,000 fridges, freezers, cookers and washing machines were fly-tipped between July and December 2004.
There are approximately 70,000 incidents of fly tipping in England and Wales every month.
Between July and December 2004 local authorities spent around £24 million clearing fly tipping.

If you spot someone fly tipping please take note of when and where the incident took place, a description of the vehicle and its registration number and what sort of rubbish is being dumped, then report to Merton’s Enforcement Team on 020 8274 4902

Ends

Notes to Editor
Merton council have destroyed a total of 4 vehicles involved in fly tipping and issued over 200 warning letters to residents who failed to manage their waste properly. This targeted enforcement action has seen a drop in the number of flytip reports for the same period last year by 800.
Fly-tipping is a serious environmental crime and proposals in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill will, if adopte