Does LitterCam spell the end of littering?

As the UK’s largest waste removal service, we like to keep up to date with all things rubbish removal and an innovative new pilot scheme is set to be an expensive wake-up call for litterers all over the UK.

As reported in The Times, motorists may soon be fined up to £120 for throwing litter out of their cars in a bid to deter litterbugs. And the scheme doesn’t just look to punish those who throw fast food bags, but even those who toss out cigarette butts.

LitterCam will be introduced in Maidstone, Kent in response to the 1,950 tons of roadside litter that the council have had to clean up over the last 12 months. This represents a 250% increase on last year, at a cost of £1.2 million to the taxpayer.

The LitterCam technology is able to scan and identify almost any litter item thrown from a moving vehicle, from plastic drinks bottles and to cigarette butts, whilst also capturing the vehicle’s registration. The photographic evidence is then passed on to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, who provide the details of the car’s registered owner so the fine can be issued.

Currently, fines stand at £90, rising to £120 if not paid within 15 days, although a maximum fine of £150 is permissible on-the-spot. Other local authorities such as Wigan and Sheffield and organisations such as Transport Scotland and Zero Waste Scotland were also considered employing the LitterCam too.

Waste Carriers Licence

Littering is being tackled on a larger scale too as the procedure around acquiring a waste carriers licence faces reforms. As reported on Panorama recently, the licensing system fails to stop fly-tipping due to the relative ease of acquiring a licence; all you need is to fill in an online form and pay the licence fee. Famously, a campaigner successfully applied for a waste carriers licence in the name of his deceased dog, just to demonstrate the flaws in the system.

There were more than a million fly-tipping incidents reported in the UK in 2019 and not all of these were committed by unlicensed firms. In fact, some cases saw licensed and seemingly reputable firms sub-contracting to other waste carriers, who then dumped the waste illegally, usually in a layby or a field.

However, it isn’t just the environment that loses out in a situation such as this. Under the current system, the owner of the property upon which the waste is fly-tipped is responsible for the removal of the waste, which includes the cost. In addition, if the waste can be traced back to its source, then the original customer can be fined up to £4,000 for hiring the services of unreputable waste carrier.

The reforms are set to include stricter background and competency checks and mandatory electronic waste tracking.

Clearabee vs Fly-tipping

If you’ve been the unfortunate recipient of a fly-tipping incident on your property, the bad news is that it’s your responsibility to get it removed. The good news is that Clearabee are here to help.

Our rapid reaction rubbish removals can attend your property, wherever you are in the UK and very often on the very same day. If you order by 1pm, we can assess the amount of waste that you need removing and send an appropriately-sized team and rubbish removal method. This will usually be our flexible ‘Man and Van’ waste clearance service and will include reasonable manual labour (of 30 minutes in duration).

You can either send us an image of the waste that needs collecting and we can quote over the phone or online. Or you can simply pay the flat call-out fee of £59.99 and we’ll send out one of our trained waste operatives to assess the waste and quote your directly. If you’re happy with the quote, we’ll get it removed for you there and then, letting you go about your business.

Confidence in Clearabee

To give you complete confidence in Clearabee, we issue a Waste Transfer Note after each and every collection. This note confirms what waste has been collected, by which vehicle and which Waste Transfer Station it’s been transported to. This note is kept on record as evidence of your due diligence and part of your Duty of Care.

The Waste Transfer Note also records the landfill diversion rate, which is at least 95% on average. This means that you can be sure that not only is your waste being cleared responsibly, but it’s also being reused or recycled as widely as possible. Clearabee are proud of our environmental credentials. Our ‘Man and Van’ vehicles are built on an ultra-light chassis which reduces fuel consumption as well as carbon emissions, plus we have over 120 locations all around the UK, which means our average journeys are less than 15 miles each.

The carbon emissions we do create are offset by our 2 UK Clearabee forests. Planted in 2018, these forests consist of 19,674 trees and as well as acting as a wildlife sanctuary, are expected to offset over 1,886 tonnes of carbon. In short, we can get your property clean and the planet green.

Book you waste clearance now or contact Clearabee to request a call back.

Removing rubbish. It’s what we do.

All prices featured in the above article are correct at the time of publishing.