Home owners in East Lothian need to take responsibility for fly tipping

Home owners must take responsibility for ensuring ripped out kitchens and bathrooms are not dumped illegally, a councillor warned this week.

East Lothian Councillor Colin McGinn said more and more fly tipping reports coming to him involved ‘trade rubbish’ with household units discarded.

And he said people who had work carried out in their homes needed to make sure they knew where the waste ended up.

Councillor Mc Ginn said: “It strikes me that a number of fly tipping issues that I am made aware of seems to be industrial in respect that it is things like fitted kitchens or bathrooms, whole units that have been dumped and that strikes me that it is trades people that are dumping it, or it could be home owners.

“Anybody giving over work to any trades person has a responsibility to know where there waste gets disposed of and should be asking if they have the appropriate licences to dispose of waste. “I wonder of we need to be more explicit with that.”

Kenny Black, the council’s community protection team manager, welcomed Councillor McGinn’s call for home owners to be made aware of their role when it comes to fly tipping issues across the county, saying trades waste was on the increase.

He told Councillor McGinn: “There is definitely much more of the type of waste you describe that I am coming across during my daily work.”

East Lothian Council says it deals with around 400 reports of fly tipping every year and warns it can serve Fixed Penalty Notices of £500 to those caught committing the offence.

By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter