June 27: Council charges are feeding the rise in fly-tipping blight

From: David Wharton, Whitby.

I CAN’T say I am as surprised as the Yorkshire councils are to see that there has been a big rise in fly-tipping. Recently charges have been imposed at waste disposal centres. A sack of rubble now costs £4.50 to throw into the skips.

Any of the things you may need to dispose of from doing a bit of DIY such as a toilet pan, old sink or flags from the drive are all now to be paid for. Take a plaster board to the skip and it will cost more to throw it in than to buy it.

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I recently took a door to the local waste disposal centre. It had been glazed, but I took out the glass to transport it. I could have put the door into the timber skip with the glass in it for free but as I had removed the glass I had to put the glass into the rubble skip and was charged £2.50 for the pleasure.

I am totally opposed to fly-tipping. Last winter I found a footpath in the beautiful seaside town where I live blocked by a pile of cardboard and trade waste. I photographed this rubbish including the name and address of the business that the packaging had been delivered to and took it to the local tourist information centre. Local council cost cutting means we have no council office. The dumped rubbish was a hazard and needing removing. I was told by a council worker that they could not prosecute because the business, whose address was on the packaging, may have handed it on to someone else. In the end it seems I was wasting my time.

The recent removal of bottle banks also seems a false economy. People who have made the effort, turn up at the sites where the bottle banks used to be to find nowhere to dispose of the bottles.

From Sue Cuthbert, Newton on Rawcliffe.

I AM pleased that The Yorkshire Post is heading the anti-littering campaign. Like many other people, I am angry with anyone who litters towns and country side. We do our bit by litter picking in our area.

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However, I think that councils have not helped by privatising refuse disposal places. The refuse disposal at Thornton le Dale is very tidy, but certain things like rubble disposal are charged for.

One of our friends took a small bag of rubble there. He was asked for £2 to do this. He, being a responsible person, took it home to dispose of, as he thought this was an unreasonable charge.

Irresponsible people fly-tip instead (The Yorkshire Post, June 22). Surely, it is cheaper to take all rubbish at no cost, instead of paying millions to clear up fly-tipping?