Survey launched

Its on a fly-tipping campaign

A survey is underway to find out if a campaign to help prevent fly-tipping from blighting the beautiful Wealden district has been successful - and that householders know their responsibilities when it comes to disposing of waste correctly.

More than £20,000 – delivered by the Rural Payments Agency on behalf of DEFRA - was awarded to Wealden District Council earlier this year to fund projects that increase the awareness of the Household Waste Duty of Care.

One of those projects was a three-month advertising campaign called “Have you been dumped?” aimed at helping householders make the right decisions when getting someone other than the council to dispose of their waste.

It also focussed on making everyone aware of the need to use a registered waste carrier when disposing of their waste. Failure to take adequate steps to check they’re registered could lead to an unlimited fine and a criminal record if the waste is found fly-tipped.

Wealden council is now running a survey on its community engagement platform – Let’s Talk Wealden – to measure its success and ensure householders are aware of their responsibilities when it comes to disposing of waste correctly.

Councillor Gareth Owen-Williams, Alliance for Wealden (Liberal Democrat) and lead councillor for Waste and Customer Services, said, “Over the last three months we have been running the advertising campaign called Have you been dumped? to make sure everyone understands how important it is that their rubbish is disposed of correctly.

“The advert has appeared at petrol stations, on buses, on social media, on the radio and more. Now we want to know if you saw the campaign and what you thought of it. I would encourage people to take a couple of minutes to fill in our survey as feedback is very important to us.

“Fly-tipping is an illegal offence usually carried out by those who are not registered with the Environment Agency to carry waste. Householders can directly help reduce fly-tipping by ensuring they always ask to see a Waste Carrier Licence when they have rubbish to dispose of”.

“We want to keep our countryside, towns and villages tidy and free from fly-tips which ruin our landscapes and the environment. They also cost the council money to remove.”

Last year the council cleared 677 fly tips across the district at a cost of just over £49,000.

To take part in the survey, which is running until 14 October 2024, at https://letstalk.wealden.gov.uk/duty-of-care