NEW fines came into force this week in a bid to help reduce the tonnes of household waste fly-tipped.
Last year, there were almost 50,000 fly-tips of rubbish in the North West alone many items dumped by people posing as waste carriers.
But now all house-holders are responsoble under new waste Duty of Care' rules to ensure their rubbish is passed on to authorised carriers.
People not taking reasonable measures to do so could face fines of up to £5,000.
The change is aimed at saving some of the £11,000 a day councils spend on clearing up fly-tips, says David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Associa-tion's environment board.
Almost three quarters of household rubbish dumped could have been disposed of at the nearest tip free of charge, he says.
"The new regulations are an extra weapon in the armoury to elimi-nate fly-tippers. They are all about people working with their council to combat the blight of fly-tipping and make sure rubbish is dealt with properly."
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