Council officers removed the 44-foot trailer, which had been left on South Street, Openshaw last month and disposed of the waste material that had been left within the trailer.
According to the local authority, the total cost of removing the vehicle and disposal of the waste ran to nearly £10,000 – while further costs are likely to be incurred through the damage to the road caused by the weight of the trailer.
Waste within the load has been described as containing material which could have originated within households – possibly during renovation or decoration, much of which was non-recyclable. Waste was eventually removed by the council’s contractor Redgate Holdings Ltd.
Trailer
The trailer had been stripped of any usable parts and scrap metal, as well as anything that could be used to identify its owners, such as registration plates the council says.
Manchester city council is now appealing for any information to help to trace the owner of the vehicle, which has been described as an old tri axle steel waste hydraulic ejector trailer with a compactor.
The council is also working with Greater Manchester Police and Transport for Greater Manchester to attempt to track down the movements of the trailer via CCTV footage.
Money
Councillor Nigel Murphy, the council’s executive member for neighbourhoods, said: “This is fly-tipping on an industrial scale, and those involved have stolen from Manchester taxpayers, as the amount of money we had to spend to get rid of this waste safely could have been spent on important services to improve the lives of our residents.
“We are very keen to find these people and take them to court. We suspect this material had come from a site used to sort skips, so I’m sure there are people out there who know something about this. I’m asking anyone who might have seen this vehicle before or who knows anything about this crime to contact us with information.”
Subscribe for free