The Welsh government has unveiled plans to crack down on fly tipping, which farmers and landowners believe warned is a growing problem.

image expired

Following a consultation on the issue late last month, the government has promised a new strategy to tackle fly-tipping. The previous strategy ended in 2012.

The government-funded Fly-tipping Action Wales partnership has released a document, "Pride in our Communities," which outlines five areas for countering future fly-tipping across Wales. These include establishing partnership, understanding the scale, improving education, creating appropriate waste provision and forming an intelligence-led approach to dealing with dumped waste.

Last year, when the government consultation was launched, a Welsh Government spokesperson said the new strategy would go towards achieving "A future for Wales that is free from the unacceptable social, economic and environmental harm caused by fly-tipping: a future in which we all work together to take responsibility for our waste and to take pride in our communities."

NFU Cymru last week welcomed the government's commitment to tackle the issue, stating that "Welsh farmers rightly feel that they are victims of fly-tipping which costs them both time and money." The union wants to see government working with the industry to "propose simple solutions [and] reduce the burden on farmers," who have been victims of fly-tipping on their land.

In England, too, the NFU and Country, Land and Business Association have spoken out about the problem. In December, the NFU in England said government statistics showing a decline in fly-tipping incidents are misleading, as they do not include cases of dumping on private land.  

NFU Cymru asked the Government to limit the regulatory and financial burden on landowners by removing the need to register as waste carriers or generate Waste Transfer Notes. However, in England Defra has opted to leave decision-making on fly-tipping up to local authorities, as the system proposed by farming unions may be difficult to operate in practice and open to abuse.

The Welsh Union also requested a simple standard e-reporting portal, similar to that of the Fly-Capture database to encourage more farmers to report fly-tipping so that Government is able to "see the real picture of how serious this problem is."

Bernard Llewellyn, NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs Board Chairman commented on the Welsh government approach last week. He said, "The sad reality is that too many Welsh farmers have been directly affected by the deluge of fly-tipping by unscrupulous individuals, however it is extremely heartening to learn that Welsh Government is recognising this as a problem they want to tackle. Now we would like to see it move forward with decisive action throughout the whole of Wales. Remembering farmers and landowners are willing to be part of the solution but not the solution."