RESIDENTS of Pembrokeshire took to Facebook to display their disgust and outrage, after a photo was posted of fly tipping that had occurred earlier on that day near Carew Airfield in Sageston, Tenby, which consisted of orange bags, a sofa, two mattresses and metal frames.

According to Stats Wales, there were 1,199 incidents of fly tipping in Pembrokeshire between 2015 and 2016, which is 381 more incidents than between 2014-2015, with only 212 investigations taking place. Despite this, no warning letters, statutory or fixed penalty notices or prosecutions occurred. This cost Pembrokeshire £77,693 in clearance costs.

Locals mostly placed the blame on Pembrokeshire County Council, saying the charges at the landfill sites were too high for commercial vehicles, which could be catching out those advertising their services such as “man with a van,” who charge too little for their services, and are therefore unable to cover the costs at the tip.

One commenter posted: “Probably man with van doing tip run for a few quid. Happened at my hubby’s work it was dumped being his unit. He put it on Pembrokeshire-Bay to find out if someone recognised the stuff. The person who owned it was mortified that the person she paid did this and came collected it herself!”

The feeling seemed to be mutual among the majority of those commenting, with one person saying: “It is disgusting, but with the Council now charging £104 for a large trailer load we had better start getting used to it.”

They added:”It is embarrassing trying to justify it to customers for that very reason. Looks as though I am ripping them off.”

The Herald spoke to local businessman, Mr John Andrews [name changed] who said he couldn’t understand how people advertising “man with a van” can perform their legal obligations for the prices charged, and expressed his concerns over the consequences of hiring such people.

He said: “Fly tipping is getting worse. If I came to you to do a job for you and I had waste to take away, that would be industrial waste. I would need insurance on my van to be able to cover waste goods, so these people taking things away – are they covered? I don’t understand how people can do things for £20.

As explained on Natural Resources Wales’ website and gov.co.uk, you will need to be registered as a waste carrier if your main place of business is Wales, and you transport waste as part of your business, buy, sell or dispose of waste. If you just transport waste you produce yourself, registration is usually free and renews automatically, however, you’ll need to pay £154 and renew your licence every 3 years if you transport other people’s waste, or construction or demolition waste you produce yourself.

The Herald contacted three different people advertising ‘Man with a van’, two asking for £30 and one asking for £20 for a ‘tip run’. When asked if this amount would cover the cost at the tip, one person said “Hope so” while the other said “The charges are a nightmare. You can see why people fly tip!”

The Herald also asked Mr Andrews what he would charge if he were to, hypothetically do a ‘tip run’ for a customer. He said: “Looking at the waste that’s been dumped at Carew, it looks like more than one van load, so it’d probably be two trips, so taking this into account with my hourly rate, with diesel and covering a charge at the tip, you’re looking at around £100.”

In relation to the Facebook post, other suggestions came flying in as to why somebody would have fly tipping as an option in their mind, rather than take it to the tip where it would be disposed of properly; one of which was fortnightly bin collection.

The Council first proposed the controversial plans in February 2013, and introduced the new regime in October 2013. Irate residents and concerned local Councillors voiced their fears that the changed could potentially be hazardous, but the Council felt that the estimated £500,000 they save per year because of the change would be beneficial – more so perhaps, than having weekly bin collections that could prevent fly tipping.

Gary Venn, who commented on the post on the popular Facebook selling page, Pembrokeshire-Bay, said: “I’m not surprised to be honest. The bin men come every two weeks. I took loads of bags to the tip today doing a job that we pay tax for and they told me only four bags allowed to be dumped. I had to take away six bags.”

However, some said they found no problem with bringing their rubbish to the tip, but did say that he felt that the culprit could have made this decision due to landfill sites not being open as often like they are in the summer.

As stated on Pembrokeshire County Council’s website, every household in Pembrokeshire has a legal responsibility to dispose of its rubbish in the appropriate manner. It says: “If you have your rubbish removed and it ends up being fly-tipped, you could be held responsible and fined,” and you must remember to always ask to see a waste carrier’s certificate and do not use waste contractors who won’t show you an original certificate, keep a record of the waste carrier’s details in case they fly-tip your waste and it is traced back to you. It also states that businesses must always get a copy of a waste transfer note from the person who takes the waste away

Under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 the penalty for fly-tipping/non-compliance can be a maximum of £50,000 and/or five years imprisonment.The Herald contacted Pembrokeshire County Council, to see if they felt the charges at landfill sites could be deemed as extortionate?

A spokesperson for the Council said: “Pembrokeshire County Council does not operate any landfill sites and has no control over the charges set by private operators.“A total of 74% of the cost of landfilling waste (commercial or domestic) is a tax of £84.40 per tonne, which is currently levied by Central Government. The remaining 26% is a cost set by the landfill operator.”