Welsh Environment Minister, John Griffiths, has today (26 November), announced a new consultation into tackling illegal fly tipping in Wales.

Griffiths announced the consultation at the Welsh Government and Fly tipping Action Wales partnership’s conference at Cardiff’s SWALEC stadium today.

Made up of 50 organisations including 22 local authorities, the Welsh Fire and Police Services and environmental organisations, Fly tipping Action Wales revealed that in 2011-12, fly-tipping clean-up operations alone cost Welsh local authorities over £2.1 million.

The Welsh government is now calling on stakeholders to participate in a new consultation that aims to gather ideas about how best to tackle the waste-dumping practice. Griffiths invited comments and ideas for a solution to the problem, saying that he recognised that ‘no one organisation can achieve this alone’.

“Fly tipping is a serious crime. Not only is it a dreadful eye sore it can also pose a real danger to people living locally, and it is far too common in some of our more deprived urban areas and remote rural areas.

“I believe that by dealing effectively with fly tipping, we can make a real difference to the quality of life within communities here in Wales. Over recent years we have made good progress and have seen some real successes but the challenge now is to build upon that success.

“The consultation I am launching today explores how we can work effectively to achieve a fly tipping free Wales. We recognise that no one organisation can achieve this alone and that is why I am inviting comments and ideas from all our partners so we can make this policy work for Wales.“

Stakeholders are invited to suggest ways in which four key ‘high-level outcomes’ can be brought about. These are:

• Ensuring that all key organisations in Wales to commit to eliminating fly tipping
• Making it ‘widely understood’ that fly tipping is socially unacceptable
• Making it easier for people to deal with their waste effectively
• Ensuring that anyone who fly-tips is caught and ‘punished appropriately’.

The consultation has been announced now as the existing strategy put into place by the Welsh Government and Fly-tipping Action Wales is set to end in 2012.

Chris Mills, Director of Environment Agency Wales, which coordinates Fly tipping Action Wales, emphasised the continuing problem of fly tipping and its current extent in Wales.

“Fly tipping is a problem that affects us all in Wales. Despite considerable efforts from all the organisations involved, there were more than 36,000 reported cases of fly tipping last year, that’s an average of one fly tipping case every 15 minutes in Wales. "

“With the most recent clean-up costs reported to be topping more £2.1 million each year, we are holding this conference with the Welsh Government to look at further ways of tackling the problem. We welcome the Minister’s consultation and we hope the outcomes of the conference will prove invaluable in determining the way forward.”

The consultation will run from 26November 2012 until 28 February 2013.

Read more about the fly-tipping consultation.