You can get fly-tipping and casual littering cleared up
When you know the right agencies to contact, litter can be made to go away!
Many bodies have powers and responsibilities to clean up litter - but don't make enough use of them. You may need to remind them what their job is.
Local authorities are responsible for all public land and roads within their boundaries (apart from roads that come under the Highways Agency).
Under sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, on-the-spot fines of £75 can be issued for littering. Failure to pay can result in fines of up to £2,500 and a visit to Court.
Fly-tippers may have to pay much higher financial penalties plus clean-up costs, and can even face prison.
So, if you see littering or fly-tipping happen, take down all the information you can and report it immediately to the police and/or your local authority. Details you'll need are:
- registration number of the vehicle
- make and model
- time and location
The Highways Agency is responsible for the tidiness of all motorways and major trunk roads. Complaints about litter or fly-tipping can go to their helpline HAIL on 08457 50 40 30.
If you see a driver throwing litter out of a car window, take down the car number plate and call the local police. They can issue a fine of £75 or more.
Network Rail and the train operating companies share the job of keeping England's railways clean. Network Rail looks after all railway land in urban areas, land between the tracks and up to 100 metres from the end of the platform. They are also responsible for 17 key railway stations:
- Birmingham New Street
- Cannon Street
- Charing Cross
- Edinburgh Waverley
- Euston
- Fenchurch
- Gatwick
- Glasgow Central
- Kings Cross
- Leeds
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Liverpool Street
- London Bridge
- Manchester Piccadilly
- Paddington
- Victoria
- Waterloo
To report litter around any of these stations call Network Rail's national helpline 08457 11 41 41.
The other 2,500 stations are managed by the train operating companies, who should be contacted directly. Or you can speak to the guard or station staff at your destination.
The Environment Agency is responsible for large-scale incidents of fly-tipping (more than a lorry load), hazardous waste in drums, and waste dumped in a way that gives rise to human health problems or serious harm to the environment - on land or in water.
Report incidents to them 24 hours a day on the free number 0800 807 060.
The Agency also investigates unregistered waste carriers and brokers. It is your responsibility to ensure that waste from your property only goes to authorised people for disposal. If the carrier you're using is unauthorised and is caught - or if your dumped waste is found and traced - you are liable to a £5,000 fine and clean-up costs.
It's easy to check that your tradesman or skip hire is registered by calling 0870 850 6506.
Fiona Cowan 25/4/08
With grateful thanks to CPRE's Fieldwork magazine, March 2008 issue.
Fieldwork is free to members of CPRE, published four times a year on recycled paper. To find out more, please click here.
The man who cleared up all the litter along the M40
For £200 you can force authorities to clear up litter
Like many drivers on Britain's litter-strewn roads, Peter Silverman was dismayed at the rubbish he saw piled on the side of the motorway.
Unlike most motorists, he decided to do something about it. If you use the M40 and you have noticed that it looks rather better recently, then you have Silverman to thank.
"I always remembered the M40 being rather nice," he said. "But my wife and I were driving up one day and we noticed that it didn't look like it used to. In fact it was appalling." Plastic bags, food packaging and worse covered the verges. "I have been concerned for years by the badly littered state of our roads. I am fed up with having to apologise to visitors from seemingly more civilised parts of the world."
The M40 became Silverman's six-lane line in the sand. In February, he complained to the Department for Transport, which tried to fob him off by blaming contractors.
Not to be deterred, Silverman turned to a little known law. Under section 91 of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act, for £200 citizens can ask their local court to serve litter abatement orders on those who are responsible for tidying up. (The responsibility for the litter, of course, remains that of those who dropped it in the first place.)
In the case of the M40, the official ultimately responsible for cleaning is no less a figure than Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Transport.
Wheels began to turn, not least on the litter-picking trucks that were suddenly dispatched to the M40. By the time Silverman's case against the transport secretary was heard at High Wycombe magistrate's court earlier this month, government lawyers were able to argue there were "no grounds" for a litter abatement order on the motorway, because there was no litter to abate.
Silverman, not unreasonably, pointed out that this was only because he had complained in the first place, and he had the photographs to prove it. The court agreed and said transport mandarins should pay his costs.
CPRE calls Silverman a hero, and plans to publish a guide later this year to help others follow his lead. If you think your local road is spotless, don't be fooled. Chances are that any litter is just hidden by the summer grass. Come autumn and all, unfortunately, may be revealed.
- David Adam, The Guardian
Reproduced with permission from The Guardian (20 June 2010)
23 June 2010