Scotland alone has an estimated 60,000 fly-tipping incidents a year amounting to around 26,000 tonnes of dumped items. It costs over £8.9m to clean the mess up. It would be much better to prevent it happening in the first place, say campaigners.
Zero Waste Scotland seeks to change behaviours and attitudes towards litter and fly-tipping among staff, customers, service users and volunteers. It also wants to enable businesses to take a visible stand against litter; hence the communication materials available on its website. Zero Waste Scotland has launched the Litter Knowledge Network – which for the first time gathers together a suite of materials for preventing litter and fly-tipping.
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “It is clear that litter picking and cleaning alone is not a long-term solution to Scotland’s litter issue. That’s why we need to work together to prevent litter at its source. We have had a fantastic response from organisations in Dundee that are passionate about protecting their communities and the environment, and I’m excited to replicate this success across the country. I hope as many businesses and organisations as possible will get in touch to look at putting together an action plan for your area to help prevent litter from blighting it.”
While most fly-tipping is deliberate, many incidents may be caused by a lack of awareness and communication materials are therefore required that leave no room for doubt; to tell householders what options are available to them for getting rid of excess household waste and bulky items, for example by arranging for them to be uplifted by the council or picked up free. Because as one of the stickers in the communication materials says, dumping something next to a bin is still fly-tipping. And as another one says, being closed is not an excuse for fly-tipping. And another warns people that they’re ‘not as fly’ as they think, as fly-tipping upsets neighbours, and asks if it’s worth it.
For the fly-tipping ‘toolkit’ with downloadable materials, including pavement stencils, visit http://zerowastepartners.org.uk/collections/156/.
Visit http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk. The campaign was launched at Engine Shed, Scotland’s new centre for traditional skills, by the River Forth in Stirling.
Picture by Mark Rowe; graffiti on bin, Glasgow.
