Depsite a 9% drop nationally, Somerset saw a rise in flytipping incidents of over 50% in the year after Somerset’s ruling Conservatives cut the recycling budget, forcing recycling centres to close 2 and a half days a week and bringing in new charges to recycle some materials, and flytipping remains much higher than before.

Last autumn, I and councillor Sam Phripp asked Mendip District Council to take more action on this issue but the Conservatives voted down the motion. The cuts to recycling centres have made it more difficult and expensive for local people to recycle. It is not only residents but our environment which is paying the price as flytipping has increased and recycling has fallen.

I also launched a petition at https://www.change.org/petitions/keep-recycling-centres-in-somerset-open-every-day-and-reduce-tip-taxes which calls for Somerset County Council to review its policy and restore opening hours and reduce charges at recycling centres.

What is still shocking though is that flytipping still remains 50% higher in Somerset than before Somerset County Council’s cuts to Recycling Centres. The latest figures from Somerset Waste Partnership show that in the first 6 months of this financial year (April-September 2012), compared with the same period before the cuts were made (in April-Sept 2010), the number of flytipping incidents recorded in Somerset is 50% higher,  20% higher in Mendip district,  56% more in Taunton Deane, 62% more in Sedgemoor, and 84% in South Somerset.  Also, data released by SWP shows that the county council will need to refund district councils in Somerset to cover the costs of flytipping some 82% of the time, as refunds are triggered when flytipping clearance costs exceed the previous 2010/11 level each month, which is a clear indication of cause and effect. 

As reported previously, Somerset County Council’s cuts to its waste and recycling budget forced Somerset Waste Partnership to cut opening hours at household waste recycling centres, and introduce new charges (for some materials to be deposited, and for entry at the four smaller sites) in April 2011.  In the year that followed, flytipping increased 54% across Somerset (from 21% in Mendip to 81% in South Somerset). 

The latest data on flytipping for the last 6 months for which data is available, April – September 2012, is contained within Somerset Waste Partnership’s December 2012 reports – http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/council/meetings/reports.asp?item=964).
This shows that flytipping has fallen slightly in comparison with the same months in 2011 (when flytipping peaked after the cuts were made) in most districts in Somerset, by 9%, with a 12% fall in Mendip, although flytipping has continued to increase in South Somerset by 10%.

With all this evidence to hand, Somerset Liberal Democrats brought a motion to Somerset County Council in December 2012 to urge the ruling Conservative administration to reverse their decision to reduce opening hours at local recycling centres on Sunday afternoons, and to scrap the ‘tip tax’ at four smaller waste centres (now Community Recycling Centres) in Somerset, including at Coleford.  The Conservatives voted down the motion, so the campaign continues.

UPDATE, 25th Feb 2013: The BBC’s Inside Out West regional TV programme yesterday examined the appalling flytipping problem just outside Frome, including interviews with a local farmer and a B&B businessman, and with ward Councillor Peter Knibbs (Con, Beckington and Selwood), who promised action; and asked the question, have the County Council’s cuts in opening hours to local household recycling centres (and new charges for some wastes) made this problem worse: see  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qzfy2/Inside_Out_West_25_02_2013/  – available for 6 more days