Call for heavy fines to stop fly-tippers escaping new charge

Thursday 21 July 2016

Fly-tippers trying to avoid paying to get rid of their rubbish may end up putting their hands in their pockets anyway, if plans for heavier fines are brought in.

As part of a proposal to fill a £113m black hole in the States finances by 2019, Ministers are planning to charge companies to get rid of their waste.

Bosses at the Environment department told a Scrutiny hearing this week that the plan may also produce more cases of fly-tipping, and they want to see more heavy fines in place to make people think twice about doing it.

But they also admitted that it's a difficult crime to police, with just two successful prosecutions last year for fly-tipping, out of 30 cases, and so there needs to be more surveillance to find out who's doing it.

The "waste tax" which forms a key part of the Medium Term Financial Plan Addition, will be debated when politicians meet again in September, and has already proved to be controversial, with the Chamber of Commerce warning it'll push up business costs. But Environment Minister, Deputy Steve Luce, said: "It's time for it to stop. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the disposal of commercial waste."

He said the bigger the business, the less likely they are to fly-tip, but said he's aware that there will be unscrupulous people looking for a way to avoid paying the tax and said tackling the problem is going to be challenging. He said he hopes Islanders will help detect and expose those who do fly-tip so that they can be named and shamed and prosecuted for it.

St Saviour Connétable Sadie Le Sueur-Rennard, an organic dairy farmer, said she’d once had a whole bedroom suite dumped on her land and it was left to her to pay to dispose of it.

Deputy Luce commented said: “If there is an increase in fly-tipping, we will need to have the resources to clear it up. If we haven’t got it, we would have to create jobs.”

The Minister said the waste tax should provide a great opportunity for entrepreneurial activity and hopefully people will see that you can make money if you really get into recycling properly. He said he's expecting to see a lot of activity in this area in the next five to ten years.