How it happens6:3130-ton tumbling heaps unloaded on rural English street
It was a sight that James Johnson is never forgotten: A 15-meter length of the length of a school bus pile of garbage is scattered on the other side of the streetillegally unloaded.
“We had old building materials, rubble, soil, waste from houses, furniture, metals, even documents with names and addresses of the people,” said Johnson, regulation and enforcement manager of the district council of Lichfield, England.
“Bigger than the average person with several feet, it went far back,” he said How it happens Host Nil Köksal.
He was called to Watery Lane, a rural road in Lichfield, on the morning of January 20.
The illegal dumping, which is generally referred to in Great Britain as fly-topping, relates to the quick, often secret disposal of waste that, according to Johnson, is typically carried out at night.
“Someone will appear very quickly, chuck (waste) from a vehicle and disappears at night,” he said.
Johnson says it could be the work of unscrupulous people to use the unsuspecting residents to take away their waste – just to illegally design them instead and to put the fees.
“Most of the time, the homeowner will say: ‘I saw an advertisement on Facebook or the like. I contacted the person, it was really cheap and they took away the waste for me,” he said.
The next day, the 30 tons of garbage had been cleared until noon, so that the aqueous lane was opened again, but not without considerable costs and disorders.
A potentially life -threatening situation
Watery Lane had already been closed at the other end due to a new housing estate, so that both sides were blocked during the incident in between.
“It was closed at both ends. That meant that emergency services would not be able if someone had an emergency,” said Elaine Curtis, a resident of Lichfield, to CBC.
“People were essentially caught like Christmas crackers, are stuck in the middle.”
The effects went beyond the residential areas – companies could not open because the massive stack of waste blocked its only way.
Caroline Farnell-Smith, which has a art studio called Pottery Cave, lost on two business records.
“It had an impact for many companies, including mine,” she told CBC.
She had to delay customers workshops, some of which could not be postponed, and since they could not fire the oven, the timeline also pushed back to prepare other pottery for collection.
The situation also emotionally burdened the community.
The cost of $ 10,000 or about $ 17,700 and the ongoing investigations has taken care of who will bear the financial burden in connection with the clean-up fast.
“They were angry because the only person who had to pick up the bill at the moment is the taxpayer,” said Farnell-Smith.
How can we prevent fly tips?
The penalties for flying roles in Great Britain are serious, including up to five years in prison, fines, vehicles are realized and driving are prohibited, says Johnson.
The local authorities can confiscate vehicles, use hidden cameras to catch fly cutters, go to waste facilities, to question employees and to confiscate real estate that could contain evidence of how mobile phones.
In addition to enforcement, Curtis says that she is committed to education to prevent acts like Fly tips from taking place primarily.
In an earlier job as a headmistress of a primary school, she carried out a number of initiatives to make children emotionally invested in the protection of the environment.
“You have to start training and make sure that your children and people appreciate your surroundings,” she said.
In Lichfield, Johnson and his team received some information and went through CCTV film material. They also combine the waste that contains personal documents with names and addresses to follow where the waste comes from.
“We are very confident that we will catch the people behind it,” said Johnson.
