Fife has become a magnet for fly tippers from across Scotland as the region is seen as a soft touch for illegal dumping, it has been claimed.
Kirkcaldy councillor Neil Crooks said vans were being driven from as far afield as Edinburgh and Falkirk to dispose of commercial waste in Fife’s recycling centres in a bid to avoid charges closer to home.
But stricter rules imposed in the kingdom in January mean those caught at council recycling sites without a licence are then dumping their rubbish in the countryside.
Everything from bags of household rubbish to old tyres and even entire kitchen units have been left lying in lanes and beauty spots across the kingdom.
Mr Crooks, convener of Fife Council’s Kirkcaldy area committee, said the issue was costing Fife taxpayers around £1.8 million a year and called on members of the public to report any tipping they witnessed.
The Labour councillor was speaking after new figures revealed a huge increase in fly tipping in the region in the past year.
In the Kirkcaldy area alone the safer communities team dealt with 421 cases between October and March – up from 337 during the same period the previous year.
Other parts of Fife are reporting a similar pattern.
In Glenrothes the team received 305 cases in six months, up 114 from the previous year, while in Dunfermline complaints rose from 176 in 2017 to 273 this year.
Community safety officers said dumping continued to rise after cuts to recycling centres’ opening hours were implemented on April 2, but Mr Crooks said that was now “calming down”.
“In some parts of Scotland it is recommended people come to Fife to dump because it’s seen as an easy touch,” he said
“The changes we implemented in January were made to prevent £1.8m worth of illegal dumping.
“The issue is not whether there has been a big increase in fly tipping because of something the council has done, it’s why are people not reporting dumping in their streets?
“I would call on the public to report anybody who is seen doing that.”
Community safety officer Paul Bowman said the council was in discussions with waste management company Fife Resource Solutions in a bid to improve matters and echoed Mr Crooks’ call to people to report culprits.
He said any evidence, such as the registration number of the vehicle used, was useful and urged people to report it directly to the council rather than through a post on Facebook.
