Fly-tippers and litter bugs who dump their rubbish on wildlife reserves are costing the Scottish Wildlife Trust around £15,000 per year.
The worst affected reserves include urban sites in Dundee with some significant fly-tipping activities also affecting reserves in rural Aberdeenshire.
The total cost of clearing up the Trust’s reserves includes staff time as well as hiring contractors to remove large items and hazardous substances such as asbestos.
This figure does not include the additional costs of dumped rubbish collected by local authorities from roadsides adjacent to the wildlife reserves, or time spent by local Trust volunteers collecting litter.
Further costs are incurred by putting preventative measures in place which include installing height barriers to Trust car parks and reducing public access on some parts of reserves through the erection of gates and closure of tracks.
The Trust’s Head of Reserves Alan Anderson said: “Fly-tipping is illegal and it poses a danger to both people and wildlife.
“It’s sad that some thoughtless individuals are dumping their waste on our reserves, forcing us as a charity to use our supporters’ money to clear up after them.
“Unfortunately the actions of a few people mean that many of our staff and volunteers have to spend a great deal of time clearing up rubbish when they could be working on more important projects such as creating and restoring wildlife habitats.”
Items found on Scottish Wildlife Trust reserves have included fridges, burned-out vehicles, bags of household rubbish, building and plumbing waste, mattresses, furniture and glass.
Tyres, asbestos, garden waste, animal waste, carpets and seasonal packaging including Christmas tree boxes have also been dumped.
A rising tide of rogue dumpers are blighting Tayside and Fife with nearly 10,000 recorded incidents of fly-tipping in the past two years.
Enforcement action has been taken against offenders in just 400 cases over that period, with not a single offender pursued in Angus or Perth.
A total of 369 reports of fly-tipping were reported in Angus in 2014/15 and 373 last year.
That compared with 475 in Perth and Kinross in 2014/15 and 566 in 2015/16.
Fife Council recorded 3,317 fly-tipping incidents in 2014/15 and 3,211 in 2015/16 with 336 fixed penalty notices issued in the past two years.
There were 778 reports to Dundee City Council in 2014/15 which went up to 863 in 2015/16 with 64 incidents leading to enforcement action.
None of the councils could give a cost for the clean-up operation.
Fly-tipping can be reported by using the Dumb Dumpers Stop Line on 0845 2 30 40 90 or by visiting www.dumbdumpers.org.
If the incident is ongoing, is believed to be a hazardous nature or is near a watercourse, the information will be passed to Sepa or Police Scotland as appropriate.
If the incident is not urgent or the waste concerned is non-hazardous, the information will be passed to the local authority for investigation.
