It told letsrecycle.com it had seen a 143% in all fly-tipping across the borough since April 2020.
In recent days hundreds of residents are said to have complained to local media after being fined for leaving bagged waste at bring sites outside several supermarkets including Asda and Tesco.
The council carries out enforcement via a contractor called Enfortis, a private security firm incorporated in December 2020. Enfortis has been granted access to DVLA data to help find offenders whose number plates are captured on CCTV. Fixed penalty notice income is kept by Enfortis and not the council.
In a statement released yesterday (26 May), the council said: “In recent days a number of fixed penalty notices have been issued linked to waste being inappropriately disposed of at recycling bring sites in such a way that made the sites an eyesore to the local area.
“Items left included fridge freezers and bags of rubbish and recycling piled around the bins. This isn’t acceptable.
“For many years we have worked closely with local supermarkets to provide recycling facilities that are easily accessible, and we have worked to ensure that the banks at the recycling bring sites are emptied on a regular basis and will continue to do so and enforce where necessary, even though our banks are located on private land, as these bring site containers are the property of the council.”
Data protection
There have been allegations that Boston borough council breached data protection legislation in allowing Enfortis to use the DVLA data to issue fixed penalty notices. The council says this is “incorrect”.
The council’s statement continued: “The council’s data protection officer is entirely satisfied that the arrangements the council has in place with Enfortis and the DVLA to identify those who are littering or fly-tipping are in line with the law.”
Fly-tipping
Boston borough council defines fly-tipping as the unauthorised deposit of household or commercial waste on land which has no licence to accept it, such as on public highways or recycling bring sites, grass verges, car parks and lay-bys.
The council allows for up to four additional recycling bags to be collected with residents’ kerbside recycling. These blue recycling bags are provided free of charge.
The number of fly-tipping incidents in Boston increased from 1,378 between May 2019 and April 2020 to 3,324 between May 2020 and April 2021, the council says.
Jennifer Moore is environmental supervisor at the council. She told letsrecycle.com: “I manage the crew that collects fly-tipping throughout the borough. Since January 2021 they have collected 67 separate fly-tips from the Asda recycling bring site and 60 from the Tesco recycling bring site.
“Educational campaigns have failed to change people’s behaviour. Enforcement officers are finding less and less evidence within the fly-tips as people are getting wise to leaving letters or anything that could be incriminating.”
Representing an estimated population of around 65,000, Boston borough council had a household waste recycling rate of 37.2% in the 2019/20 financial year.
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