Woman is fined after paying someone in good faith to get rid of her rubbish

A woman must pay more than £400 after asking someone in good faith to get her rubbish removed.

After around 20 bags of waste were dumped in a residential area in a village, Tyler Marie Richards was traced and an authority identified the rubbish as hers. The 15 black bags and four recycling bags contained household waste, and were abandoned beside a cardboard box, a plastic kennel, a black plastic bin and general loose waste near homes.

Richards, from Tonypandy, south Wales, had paid someone in good faith to have the waste removed - but the result was flytipping. The woman failed to engage with enforcement officers from Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council and didn’t attend a number of interviews in relation to the flytipping.

She has now been found guilty of failing to control her waste and committing an offence under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Wales Online reports. Richards has been handed a fine of £120, costs of £255.51 (clean-up costs only) and a victim surcharge of £48 - totalling £423.51.

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Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, led by Labour, says the removal of flytipping costs the authority hundreds of thousands of pounds each year. Councillor Ann Crimmings, who is Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure, added: "Flytipping will not be tolerated, ever. There is never an excuse to blight our, towns, lanes, streets and villages with waste, and we will find those responsible and hold them to account.

"Our teams work hard to keep our streets and back lanes clean, and flytipping of any kind will not be tolerated. This case acts as a clear reminder to householders or businesses that if you pay someone, other than the council, to take your waste away, you should always check they have a waste carrier licence and ask for a waste transfer note. If your waste is fly tipped, you could be fined along with the individual or company you paid to remove it.

"Removal of flytipping costs hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, which should be spent on key frontline services at a time when budgets are under significant pressures.

"We will use every power available to us to hold those accountable for their actions. Many of the items we recover on our streets, towns and mountains could have been taken to a community recycling centre or collected from the kerbside at no extra cost."

A flytipper in nearby Pontypool was branded "selfish" by police after dumping carpets, backpacks, blankets, mattresses, half-empty tubs of paint, empty boxes and many other pieces of junk on a rural lane last year. Their actions blocked a road, cutting off a community for hours.