Zero Waste Scotland has today (24 October) announced that projects backed by its £75,000 fund to clean up and prevent flytipping have begun operations.

The fund supports projects that clear illegally dumped waste and introduce new measures to prevent further flytipping in future.

Money has already been awarded to several projects, including the clearance of agricultural waste from a sand dune system in mainland Argyll, restoration of a Scout hut in Dalry to its original use as a community resource and recovery of space to create an outdoor classroom for Arbroath High School.

Grants of between £500 and £10,000 were made available to community groups, landowners and land managers who were looking to counter the problem of unlawfully dumped waste, such as furniture, TVs, white goods and garden and commercial waste. The grants were awarded from a Flytipping Small Grants Scheme, administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland and with support from the Scottish Flytipping Forum.

Scottish Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead, announced the launch of operations today saying: “Communities and landowners play a vital role in our efforts to tackle the unacceptable impact of illegally dumped waste. This cash will help boost local efforts to restore beauty spots and community facilities in ways that prevent flytipping happening again. Although the legal responsibility for maintaining land sits with landowners we can all work together to end the pointless, selfish blight on our land that flytipping creates.”

Iain Gulland, Director of Zero Waste Scotland, added: “We are delighted to support local authorities and landowners across Scotland to take steps to clean up the area and introduce measures to prevent illegal flytipping happening here again.

“Putting an end to this eyesore will help to highlight the value of discarded resources which could otherwise be recycled, as well as making the community a nicer place to live.

“As we’ve seen from last year’s projects, this money can make a real difference to sites which have been blighted by persistent flytipping, and we look forward to seeing the end results for local communities this year too.”

Scotland’s 2011 flytipping fund saw 127 tonnes of waste removed from 21 problem sites across the country, as well as introducing preventative measures such as installing signs and access barriers and conducting awareness campaigns. It is hoped that this year’s fund will further counter-flytipping practices.

Carole Noble, Head of Operations at Keep Scotland Beautiful, welcomed the awarding of this year’s flytipping grants, saying: “We hope that the grants awarded will help encourage communities and land owners blighted by flytipping across Scotland to continue to stand up to the crime. With 62,000 incidents of flytipping reported each year, removing it and preventing it happening in an area again is a huge challenge.

“These grants will help to raise awareness of the issue of flytipping and hopefully encourage other communities to help make the activity socially unacceptable.”

Noble went on to urge members of the public to report incidents of flytipping to the Scottish Flytipping Forum’s Dumb Dumpers hotline on 08452 30 40 90 or via its website.

Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Flytipping Forum are also holding a free flytipping seminar today at Stirling Management Centre, to encourage anti-flytipping practices.

Read more about the flytipping fund.