By John Crawford

EARLIER this month The Herald's columns were awash with articles on fly-tipping, culminating with the announcement from Murdo Fraser that he’s working with Holyrood legislators to frame a new bill to "crack down on those caught fly-tipping by increasing fines and making offenders liable…. as the current penalties aren’t working". In parallel we also have an ongoing Scottish Government consultation on "Litter and Fly-Tipping", closing on March 31. Does the one hand actually know what the other is doing?

The existing legislation contains significant penalties for anybody caught fly-tipping (and why is it lumped in with "litter": these are two entirely separate problems that need different approaches?). Anybody involved in fly-tipping (and that includes the waste producers, be they householders, shops or factories) who is successfully prosecuted can already face four-figure fines with the confiscation and destruction of any vehicles used (transport is essential for fly-tipping), so what difference will Mr Fraser’s proposed bill make? What’s the point in increasing fines if our councils and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) can’t catch the perpetrators?

Anybody (including householders) who hands waste over to a third party other than the council) must complete a waste transfer note. That third party must be a registered waste carrier (registered with SEPA) who then has to take the waste to a licensed (by Sepa) waste treatment/disposal site where another set of documentation is completed to record how much was received and how it was disposed of: effectively creating a paper trail. It’s all set out in the Duty of Care. Some English councils have successfully prosecuted local businesses who couldn’t exhibit waste transfer notes (the courts rejected their pleas that "we don’t produce any waste") and who were subsequently fined around £4,000.

Rather than devote its resources to the general education of the public, Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) should be targeting householders to advise that if they hand over any waste to a "van and man" business without paperwork and it is afterwards fly-tipped, they’ll be prosecuted as well, and their names could be published on social media. KSB could also explain to householders why people are questioned nowadays at waste recycling sites (due to unscrupulous traders trying to obtain free disposal to undercut their competitors’ prices.)

It’s been suggested that Sepa and the councils need clarification on their joint responsibilities in enforcing the Duty of Care. If that means new legislation is needed, then that’s where Mr Fraser’s efforts should be concentrated. But even without that, councils could easily identify the "man & van" characters in their area and cross-check with Sepa to see if they are registered waste carriers.

But it will need far more commitment from council and Sepa staff and when the top brass in both organisations haven’t much experience of the realities of modern waste management, there’s little chance of an early solution to the fly-tipping problem being found.

The author spent several decades in the Scottish waste management industry