Successful fly-tipping campaign up for national award

Harborough District Council’s Tip Off campaign, which aims to increase awareness of fly-tipping, and encourage reporting of it, has been nominated at the National Recycling Awards 2020 in two categories - ‘Campaign of the Year’ and 'Local Authority Success'.

The National Recycling Awards celebrate those making a difference in the recycling and waste management industry, with the winners being announced on 15 December 2020 at the prestigious London Hilton on Park Lane.

Tip Off was launched in 2016 in dramatic fashion when the Council temporarily ‘dumped’ just a few day’s worth of flytipping in its popular Welland Park. The aim was to dramatically show how much waste is being dumped illegally in the district and to encourage people to support the Tip Off campaign.

It worked – and the public got behind the campaign and started to help report fly-tipping incidents that they had found or witnessed happening.

In 2019, Tip Off was relaunched with a new focus – to remind householders and businesses that they are responsible for any waste produced on their property and how it is disposed of. It urged people to check that anyone removing waste from their property held a valid waste carriers’ licence.

And in November the Council bucked the national trend announcing that incidents of fly-tipping had fallen by more than a quarter compared to the same period in the previous year – the biggest reduction since Council records began.

The fall was attributed to the Council’s proactive actions, through its Tip Off campaign, and its success in catching those responsible.

Even during the recent lockdown period, due to the coronavirus pandemic, where other local authorities had seen a huge spike in fly-tipping, Harborough district saw slightly less incidents compared to the previous year due to its Tip Off campaign.

Cllr Jonathan Bateman (pictured), Harborough District Council’s Cabinet lead for regulatory services, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award. We have a fantastic team whose tenacity for investigating fly-tipping across the district has been rewarded with an unprecedented level of success over the year in reducing incidents and catching those people breaking the law.”

Earlier this week, the Council reported that they had caught a fly-tipper on CCTV just days after launching banners on their refuse collection vehicles which read: ‘Fly-tippers beware – we are watching you.’

As well as increasing resources to tackle fly-tipping, Harborough District Council uses covert CCTV cameras in hotspots, patrols the district daily in its environmental crime vehicle, shares messages via radio and social media to raise awareness, and works with residents, parish councils and police to gain intelligence on how and where fly-tippers are operating.

Cllr Bateman added: “This campaign would not have been as successful as it has been if it wasn’t for the support of the public, who are our eyes and ears in the community, and we thank them for their continued support in helping tackle this blight on our beautiful district.”

Report fly-tipping, or find out more about Tip Off at www.harborough.gov.uk/tipoff