Hikers shocked by reality of waste crime at Wales’ favourite beauty spots
Welsh hikers have been stopped in their tracks by shocking imagery of the realities of fly-tipping in Wales and the impact it is having on the environment not far from their favourite beauty spots.
Fly-tipping Action Wales took their digi-vans featuring super-imposed images of fly-tipping to popular destinations in Bannau Brycheiniog, Rhossili Bay and Eryri National Park on 6 January to urge onlookers to follow their Duty of Care to help prevent Wales’ landscapes from becoming fly-tipping hot spots.
A real issue
Despite the Welsh Government and Fly-tipping Action Wales annual report highlighting a 4% decrease in fly-tips versus last year*, fly-tipping still remains a real issue in Wales.
In recent years, huge numbers of online scammers, often dubbed ‘Facebook fly-tippers’, posing as legitimate waste removers have infiltrated online communities, taking advantage of unsuspecting householders and illegally dumping their waste.
Fly-tipping clear-ups cost the Welsh taxpayer an estimated £1.83 million between 2022 and 2023 with household waste making up 70% of fly-tips. However, this figure could be dramatically decreased if all householders follow their waste Duty of Care, which involves taking simple steps to ensure they hire only registered waste carriers to take their waste away.
Welsh residents can support their local council and help to continue the downwards trend by always checking the person who removes waste from their home has a licence. Waste carrier licences can be checked via naturalresources.wales/CheckWasteLicence or by calling 0300 065 3000.
“Endangering the landscape”
Neil Harrison, Team Leader for Fly-tipping Action Wales, said: “We hope these images will open people’s eyes to the danger that not disposing of their waste responsibly could cause to the environment — endangering the very landscape they are out enjoying today.
“It remains the case that around 70% of all fly-tips contain waste from households, which is why we are urging residents to protect themselves from unregistered illegal waste carriers and asking them to always check with Natural Resources Wales that the person they use to remove any excess waste from their home is a registered waste remover.
“If you are looking to make a simple new year’s resolution that could have a real impact, commit to ensuring that you dispose of your waste responsibly in 2024.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
It is not just those that do the tipping, the people that use their services also know. Cheap van and man/woman willing to take away rubbish that seems too cheap, someone down the pub knows someone, Facebook ad, well, it’s up a country lane or dumped on a mountainside. But then the people that allow their waste to end up here probably don’t appreciate the reasons it is bad. So I am not sure going to where the litter is a win.
‘Hikers’ also need to take responsibility for their own litter. If you carried it in, carry it out – no excuses. The amount of rubbish I pick up when walking in popular areas is depressing.
Litter can persist for decades.
Back in the autumn when walking with my sister in woodland I came across a discarded crisp packet at least 52 years old.
How did I know its age?
The price was printed on it: 5d.
I thought I’d left the rubbish behind when I left Cardiff, even in the middle of nowhere near Llangollen there’s rubbish left by people parking up laybys or walkers. It’s infuriating, why isn’t there an advertisement campaign to educate people?
My hedge is a magnet for the stuff during school term, rubbish is stuffed in as they walk by. Outside school term I hardly recover any. So yeah, education is not just 1+1=3.