Peterborough households face £400 fines for lack of care with household waste disposal

Peterborough residents will be fined up to £400 for “breaching their duty of care” when disposing of household waste.
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The city council is introducing new powers from April in a bid to clampdown on fly-tipping.

It hopes the measures will force households to be more careful with who they allow to get rid of their rubbish.

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The authority said: “Fly-tipping significantly impacts on local communities, blighting our neighbourhoods and rural communities and places a significant financial burden upon the council (or the landowner.

Fly-tipping in Oxney RoadFly-tipping in Oxney Road
Fly-tipping in Oxney Road

“In addition, the actions of unscrupulous waste operators undercut legitimate businesses which are operating within the law.

“Nationally, two-thirds of fly-tipping incidents involve household waste often as a result of an individual breaching their duty of care to ensure their waste is taken away by an authorised carrier.”

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From April, households who have breached their duty of care with regards to disposing of their household waste will be fined between £150 and £400.

Examples of where the duty of care has been breached include:

. Where fly-tipped waste can be traced back to an individual who failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that they transferred the waste to an authorised person

 Where an unauthorised carrier is found to be carrying household waste that was directly transferred to them the occupier of a domestic property; or

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 Where an individual is found to have transferred their household waste to an unauthorised person at a site that does not have a permit or exemption.

The council added: “In all investigations of breaches of household waste duty of care, individuals will be given the opportunity to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to determine the person that took their waste was authorised to do so.

“If fly-tipped waste is traced to an individual, and they are unable to identify who took their waste, or the carrier that they identify is unauthorised, then it is reasonable to believe they have not met their duty of care.”

The council is able to issue fixed penalty notices under new rules introduced in 2018. Previously, it could only prosecute an individual through court, an option which the authority insists it will continue to use where appropriate.

A communications campaign is also set to be launched in April to “make residents aware of their duty and ways in which they can legally dispose of their household waste”.