James Norvill, BCC Welsh Entrepreneur of the Year and Managing Director of GD Environmental Services.
As I write my first column for the Argus I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience of the waste industry with you the reader, but to also use this column to put positive statements of change into action.
For businesses operating within the waste industry it’s been a tough couple of months. The industry has seen a significant slow down in the development of new housing, a soaring price of fuel and a considerable increase in landfill and disposal costs. While these events have resulted in an average 15% rise in service charges across the waste industry there could be a deeper environmental problem growing on our doorstep.
In coming weeks fly tipping statistics for 2008 will be made public by the Environmental Agency. From April 2005 to 2006 local authorities in Wales reported nearly 44,000 incidents of fly-tipping incurring clearing costs of £2.4 million. This increased significantly last year with over 55,000 incidents reported between April 2006 and March 2007 costing the tax payer an astounding £2.9m in collection and disposal costs.
This revelation last year heaped pressure on the Welsh Assembly Government to catch perpetrators and increase fines for those responsible for fly tipping. But has enough been done to reduce this problem or is it set to grow in 2008? With the cost of waste collection and disposal increasing are businesses and the general public willing to spend money on disposing of their waste legally thought a licensed waste carrier? Or are we witnessing a transformation away from green thinking into an ethos of cutting corners through fly tipping and using unlicensed rogue traders. It’s important to identify that your waste is your responsibility and if it’s not disposed correctly you are accountable and face hefty fines. It will be interesting to see the upcoming Flycapture results but don’t be surprised to see a significant increase in the amount of fly tipping incidents reported in Wales.
To make a contribution and help tackle this issue our Carbon Neutrals team at GD Environmental, in partnership with Newport City Council and the Environment Agency are on a mission to clean up fly tipped waste across Newport. If you have a problem near your home or business let us know by emailing trashtalk@gd-environmental.co.uk .
