Illegal fly-tipping on a Livingston industrial estate is being investigated by police and environmental watchdogs after it was revealed it cost West Lothian Council £45,000 to clean up.
The council is working with Police Scotland and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to trace the commercial tippers and prosecute them.
The large-scale dumping site was said to have been a "carefully planned operation".
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In a report to a recent Environment and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) meeting Andy Johnston, a countryside manager said: “West Lothian has been lucky enough to avoid for the most part, incidents of large scale commercial fly tipping, however a recent incident in Deans Industrial Estate has shown that we are not immune. A council owned site within the Industrial Estate has been broken into and several artic lorry loads of baled waste illegally deposited.”
Mr Johnston added: “Time and care have also gone into building up earth bunds around the site to obscure it from general view suggesting that this was a long and carefully planned operation.
“As the dumping is on such a large scale, WLC is working with SEPA to investigate. The estimated cost to the council for the removal and disposal of the waste is £45,000.”
Shocked councillors were told that the waste was a variety of commercial items.
The council has developed hard-hitting strategies to tackle “white van man” fly-tipping, where dumpers remove waste from households with the promise that it will be disposed of responsibly then simply tipped in the countryside.
While largely rural areas of West Lothian usually fare the worst out of this type of dumping the county has been luckier than other areas around cities which have been targeted by criminal gangs for waste tipping on a commercial scale. The Deans Industrial estate incident is a first.
The council has recently bought mobile CCTV cameras to trace fly-tippers through catching car registrations.
Mr Johnston’s report added: “Cleaner Communities [ a team within the council’s Operational Services] works with both internal and external partners to tackle fly tipping.
“WLC Enforcement Officers work with the Police Scotland Rural Crime Unit and SEPA when investigating incidents of suspected commercial, ‘white van man’ fly tipping.
“SEPA are able to issue higher fixed penalty notices and Police Scotland can assist in criminal prosecution of serious cases. WLC Enforcement Officers will work with private landowners and can issue fines to fly tippers who dump on private land if there is sufficient evidence and agreement with the land owner.”
Mr Johnston told the Committee: “It is hoped that the revised National Litter and Fly Tipping Strategy will begin a process of expanding powers of enforcement and make it easier to issue fixed penalty notices and seek prosecution of offenders.”
Referring to the Deans incident a West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “ The council continues to work with SEPA and an investigation remains ongoing. As such it would not be appropriate to comment further on the specific incident.”
“Dumping rubbish is illegal, dangerous and costly for all involved. Members of the public are able to report incidents of fly tipping to the council through an online form on the council website or by calling the customer service centre on 01506 280000.”
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