Norwich, England, UK: The City Council has introduced a range of stickers, cordon tape and bags to keep fly tipping more contained, with the aim of making incidents safer by encouraging members of the public keep their distance.
Each week Norwich is blighted by around 100 fly-tipping incidents. Illegally dumped waste is investigated by council officers who search for clues in the debris and the stickers are designed to inform people of this.
Left to right: Marcia Elliott, service development co-ordinator for fly tipping, Cllrs Janet Bearman and Julie Brociek-Coulton, Emily Capps, environmental protection officer at Norwich Council, and Kevin Harrison from CityCare
Emily Capps, environmental protection officer at the council, said:
“The stickers have several purposes - they will indicate that the environmental protection team are aware of an incident of fly tipping, they may help jog someone’s memory and help bring forward potential witnesses, and will also highlight where waste has been incorrectly disposed of. They also carry the important message that people shouldn’t touch fly tipped materials.
“Similarly the bags we have introduced are to contain waste that may have escaped from plastic sacks or may spread around the area if we don’t do something about it. They are biodegradable too which means that we are doing our bit in terms of waste minimisation.”
For larger incidents, Norwich Council has introduced a special ‘CSI’ (crime scene investigation) style cordon tape which tells the public simply ‘Do not touch’. This tape is for bigger sites such as fly-tipped tyres and should encourage people to stay away as well as confirming the council's involvement.
Cllr Julie Brociek-Coulton, executive member for citizen services, said:
“It’s great that these things have been introduced. They will certainly help with keeping the streets cleaner and safer, which is of course a top priority in the city.”
The house that fly-tipping built
As part of Fly-tipping Awareness Week in the City, the council has furnished the rooms of a house completely from fly-tipped materials. This illustrates the variety of illegal deposited wastes that are found within the boundaries of the city of Norwich.
Further information on CSI tapes
If readers are in similar situations, tapes can be supplied from a variety of sources, for example a range of "CSI" tapes can be found at
http://www.k9sceneofcrime.co.uk/products.aspx?categoryID=1 .