Flytipped rubbish dumped yesterday, Friday 7th April 2017 just off the Barracks Lane island on the outskirts of Brownhills. Picture posted on Facebook yesterday by the Lichfield Mercury team.

I’m sad to say that the local area is still plagued by flytipping – the above load was dumped on Friday 7th April 2017 at Barracks Lane, just over the border in Staffordshire, and reported on Facebook by the crew from the Lichfield Mercury.

Hotspots in Brownhills, Aldridge, Lichfield and across the area are still being blighted by flytippers, often clearly working on a commercial scale. Flytipping is a public menace, harms the environment, can be a danger to people and wildlife and costs a lot of money to clean up.

The fact is lads with the pickups are out, now punting for rubbish removal (presumably, the tatting market is becoming too crowded). They charge a small fee, then dump your waste in lay-bys, industrial estates, country lanes, car parks and anywhere they can’t be seen. This leaves you as well as the dumpers open to prosecution, as giving waste to and unlicensed carrier is an offence and councils do prosecute.

If you need rubbish removal, either call Walsall Council for bulky waste collection, or employ a reputable firm. Ask to see their waste transfer license, and ask for, and keep the relevant paperwork. No genuine carrier will be offended by your asking for proof of their validity.

We all hate flytipping and the nuisance it causes. Please think carefully about who you give your waste to – and that includes scrap metal collectors who patrol the streets. By encouraging them, you’re perpetuating metal theft and other environmental crime.

If you have any idea who these flybynights dumping locally are, please do contact Walsall Council’s Clean and Green team on 01922 653344 if in Walsall, or Lichfield here – or better still, the police.