Staff at the recycling centre turned the man away after they suspected he was attempting to dispose of trade waste – which isn’t accepted at the site.
He responded by dumping his waste, which included pallets and construction waste, at the gates before driving off – leaving council taxpayers to pick up the cost of disposing of it.
Amber Valley Borough Council, which is responsible for dealing with fly-tipping, investigated and the trader was issued with a fine which he has since paid.
Councillor Carolyn Renwick, our Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said:
“The vast majority of residents and businesses in Derbyshire dispose of their waste responsibly, but there are some businesses which attempt to dump their waste at a cost to council tax-payers.
“The recycling centres are provided for the public to use to dispose of their own household waste.
“Fly-tipping is a criminal offence whether it’s on private land or in public spaces and the fine issued by Amber Valley Borough Council sends out a clear message to rogue traders that this kind of behaviour won’t be tolerated within Derbyshire.”
She added:
“We’d also like to remind local residents to use a registered waste carrier if they’re paying someone to take their waste away. If you pay someone to remove waste from your home, it immediately becomes their commercial waste, and they are responsible for dealing with it in the correct and legal manner. It won’t be accepted at our recycling centres.
“Not only that, but if your waste is fly-tipped by the person you passed it on to, it could be traced back to you and you could be fined as well as the fly-tipper.
“We encourage all residents and businesses to come forward and report fly-tipping so that we can work together to improve Derbyshire’s environment.”
Councillor John McCabe, Amber Valley Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment said:
“Amber Valley Borough Council investigates all cases of fly tipping it becomes aware of and will take enforcement action to bring this criminal act to justice. At a time when we are becoming collectively more aware of the need to care for our environment and reduce the impact that our waste has on nature, it is disappointing that a small number of individuals continue to fly tip waste and contaminate our environment. We will therefore continue to pursue prosecutions and promote environmental responsibility wherever we can have a meaningful impact.”
Find more information on household recycling centres, including what materials are and are not accepted.