Fly-tipping incidents in Hull are falling rapidly, according to new figures.
Reports of illegally dumped waste made to Hull City Council stood at 5,795 in the past year – 368 fewer than the 6,163 in the previous year and 1,932 fewer than the 7,727 in 2016/17.
The figures, released today, are the lowest in more than five years.
They are being attributed to the speedy removal of items by teams alongside a number of successful prosecutions of those guilty of dumping waste illegally.
It comes after the introduction of the ‘Love Your Street’ campaign, which sees a team of environmental officers visiting hot-spot areas of the city to work with residents to keep neighbourhoods clean and tidy.
The local authority spends more than £250,000 every year on cleaning up after fly-tippers, according to Doug Sharp, Hull City Council’s assistant city manager for Streetscene services.
He said: “These figures are encouraging – however, what it is important to remember is that where people see fly-tipping, it is because someone has committed an illegal act, not because the council hasn’t cleaned it up.
“I can sympathise with anyone concerned about fly-tipping in our city. We take each instance very seriously and spend more than £250,000 every year cleaning up after people. Our focus is on trying to prosecute those that we can identify, but need information and support from residents to do this.”
Four more cleansing and fly-tipping removal teams are to be introduced at the end of April to target high volume fly-tipping areas, reacting to reports of waste and provide support to existing fly-tipping teams.
Handheld devices will be handed to fly-tipping crews to record waste before and after clearance and – more importantly – evidence found to securing further prosecutions.
