Anger over fly-tipping 'dumped by Walsall residents' as community told to play its part
‘Appalled’ council bosses have called on people in Walsall to do their bit to help tackle fly-tipping which is blighting the borough.
Authority leader Mike Bird said dumped rubbish ‘doesn’t fall from the clouds in black bags’ but is left by residents living in the town and vowed to hit offenders with fines.
He also hit out at people who leave large items such as washing machines out ready to be picked up by scrap metal collectors.
Earlier this week, members of the council’s scrutiny overview committee said they couldn’t even walk through the streets due to the litter and fly-tipping dumped.
In 2022/23 to date, the authority has received more than 650 complaints about fly-tipping and councillors have called for more robust enforcement to be carried out.
Councillor Bird said: “The community have a part to play and one of the parts they have to play is to combat fly-tipping.
“It doesn’t fall from the clouds in black bags, it’s deposited by the people who live in the communities.
“When I’ve been in some of those areas I’m absolutely appalled to think people think its acceptable to walk across a road and dump their rubbish in a black plastic bag either by the side of a bin or outside somebody else’s house.
“The quicker we can get people fined for that fly-tipping the better. And the other thing that really annoys me is when people think its acceptable to leave a washing machine at the bottom of their drive.
“That’s fly-tipping and we will be looking at whether or not we can put some fixed penalties on those households who think ‘oh well, it will save me going up to the tip’.
“There are provisions within our structure to have those things picked up and disposed safely rather than being confronted by a pile of rubbish on a country lane.
“The message to the community is, it’s your rubbish. Dispose of it responsibly and not dump it in the street in certain areas of this borough.”
