Guest Column: Together we can stamp out the fly tipping menace

This needless act blights our countryside, makes a mess of our streets and also leaves the council – and ultimately you the taxpayer – with the cost of clearing it up.

In many cases, we find that fly-tipping is caused by individuals who get paid to clear a house, a garden or have carried out renovation work and dump the old and unwanted items in the nearest country lane or lay-by they can find.

These are essentially businesses which have received payment for a job, but don’t want the cost of disposing of the rubbish responsibly.

The motivation is simply greed and profit.

Thankfully, sometimes members of the public catch these selfish individuals in the act and pass information onto the council, which allows us to investigate and pursue these individuals.

In some cases we are able take court action .

And, thanks to members of the public and the diligent work of the council’s environmental health officers, we are able to secure prosecutions.

The public are our eyes and ears and if you see anyone fly-tipping please report this via our website or by phone.

Your information will be treated in the strictest of confidence and could help bring a fly-tipper to justice.

Now, let’s also get a few other things straight.

If you are a Bassetlaw resident there is no excuse or justification for fly-tipping.

It is extremely easy to take any unwanted items or rubbish to the two recycling centres, run by Nottinghamshire County Council, in Worksop and Retford.

All you have to do is register your vehicle on the county council website and you can get rid of loads of things free of charge.

The council also has a bulky items collection service.

I really want to stamp out fly-tipping in Bassetlaw, but I need your help to do it.