A woman from Fishponds has been ordered to pay £214 in fines and costs after being prosecuted for dumping waste including used nappies at a site in Winterbourne.
Aniela Popescu, 31, of Kimberley Road, was prosecuted by South Gloucestershire Council’s environmental enforcement team after a number of black bin bags containing household waste were discovered and cleared from a gateway on Trench Lane last March.
Paperwork found in the waste related to Popescu’s home address. Environmental enforcement officers visited her and interviewed her under caution. She identified the waste as hers and admitted responsibility for the fly-tip.
She stated that she had an excess of household waste which she’d dumped on her way to work. She put it all in a gateway where she had regularly seen waste left after a local car boot sale.
Appearing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday (11th January), Popescu pleaded guilty to the illegal disposal of waste and was fined £80, along with £100 in costs and a victim surcharge of £34.
South Glos Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities & Local Place Rachael Hunt said: “We all have a responsibility to correctly dispose of our household waste and there really is no excuse for this type of behaviour. Fly-tipping is a blight on our countryside, has a negative impact on our communities and local environment, and we all have a responsibility to make sure that our waste is disposed of in the appropriate manner.
“Our zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping in South Gloucestershire means that anyone who fly-tips here is up to five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country. Our award-winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence, so if you fail in your duty of care and allow rubbish to be fly-tipped in South Gloucestershire, you can expect to be caught and brought before the courts.”
Residents and businesses are advised to only give their rubbish to an Environment Agency registered waste carrier.
Unwanted goods and household or garden waste can all be disposed of at no cost via the council’s Sort It centres.
Residents who see illegal fly-tipping are encouraged to report it by at www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping or emailing streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or by contacting the StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000.
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