I Say This “Fly Tipper” Got Off Too Easy

by Kevin Burton

   I am guessing you are like me and had no previous idea what “fly tipping” is.

   Fly tipping is “the activity of illegally leaving waste or unwanted objects next to a road, in a field,  in a river, etc.” according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

   According to wordhistories.net, here’s how this disgusting act got its name:

   “ fly refers to the phrase on the fly, meaning while in motion or progress;
    tipping is the gerund of the verb tip, in the sense to dump—from the sense to cause [the contents of a container] to be emptied out by tilting it.”

   Fly tipping is a thing in Wales, I guess.  Check out the story below by BBC reporter Chris Wood and find out how one resident responded to getting trash dumped at his house. See if you come away from it as I did, thinking the perpetrator deserved worse for his efforts.

    “CCTV” in the story, refers to closed caption television, which is in place in Wales to help ensure public safety:

   “A man returned seven bags of dumped rubbish to a fly-tipper’s doorstep after sifting through CCTV.”

   “Dean Gauci had grown angry that the block of flats he manages in Cardiff was being repeatedly targeted by waste offenders. Using amateur detective skills, he looked through hours of CCTV recordings before finding the moment the rubbish was left – 09:00 British Summer Time on June 12.”

   “By speaking to neighbors and showing them the footage, he was able to quickly establish the identity of the offender, and the fact that he lived close by.

   “Gauci, 38, carried the sacks – which were filled with household waste – to the nearby property and piled them outside before ringing the doorbell,” Wood wrote.

   “The culprit answered and was told he had been caught red-handed on CCTV, before responding with ‘I was going to move this, sorry mate,’ according to Dean.”

   “The incident had been the final straw for Dean, an Airbnb maintenance worker in Wales’ capital, after dealing with dozens of cases over the past year.”

   “People fly-tip here all the time – this is probably the 30th or 40th time people have done it,” Gauci said.

   “Because of this, he was determined to track down the person who had left the waste on this occasion.

   “I could have taken that rubbish and charged the landlord [of the flats] to dispose of it, but I wanted to do the right thing and catch them,” Gauci said.”

   “I piled it up on his doorstep’.”

   “Before CCTV led him to the culprit, Dean had sifted through the bags looking for any letters that may have addresses or any clues. But he said the offender had tried to cover his tracks, with a number of Amazon boxes in the rubbish with labels peeled off.”

   “Not to be deterred, Dean started chatting to neighbors, before quickly finding one who recognized the face in the footage.”

   “After returning the rubbish to his property, he filmed the moment the shocked waste offender opened his front door and had no choice but to admit his guilt.”

   “I piled it right up on his doorstep to give him a taste of his own medicine,” Gauci said. “His response was funny, he must have felt stupid. But he dumped it.”

   “Gauci said he did not notify the police but did report the incident to Cardiff council.”

   “The local authority said it provided a comprehensive waste and recycling service, and over a four-week period, a household can potentially have 22 separate waste collections.”

    “Dumping waste next to a litter bin, or outside someone else’s property, is fly-tipping,” said a spokesperson for Cardiff council. “Enforcement action will be taken if evidence is found to identify the individual responsible.”

   “Our message to those who continue to damage the environment we all share is simple: please stop.”

   My message to the dumper/fly tipper could have involved turning the trash to him in a manner that was considerably more sticky, or stinky, or in a manner that wasn’t so easy to clean up. And I certainly would have gone to the police after taking the time and trouble to find out who did it.

   This punk got off easy.

   ‘’If you are caught, you will either receive a fixed penalty notice or face court action, which could result in a fine of up to £50,000 ($65.797 US) or six months’ imprisonment, depending on the severity of the case,’ the council spokesperson said, urging anyone who spots fly-tipping to report it.”

   “Fly-tipping incidents continue to blight areas right across Wales, with figures released earlier this year the highest since 2009,” Wood wrote.

   “According to data published by the Welsh government, about 71 percent of those reported involved household waste, while over the past 12 months there have been 27,749 enforcement actions – 9 percent more than in the previous year.”

   “Following release of the statistics, the Welsh government said funding had been given to Fly-tipping Action Wales, to provide 150 cameras so local authorities could target hot-spots and help clean up communities.”

   “Fixed penalty notices of £300 ($394) can be handed out for smaller-scale offences such as littering, minor fly-tipping or failing to check a waste carrier’s license.”

   “Fines of up to £5,000 a(6,580) are given for large-scale, repeat or commercial fly-tipping incidents which also involve a trip to the magistrates’ court,” Wood wrote.

   Last year, there were more than 1,500 fixed penalty notices issued in Wales, along with 69 successful prosecutions – 20 of these were in Cardiff, 18 in Rhondda Cynon Taf and nine in Carmarthenshire.

   “Fly-tipping damages our environment, costs taxpayers millions and undermines communities,” said Heidi Pawlin, program manager for Fly-tipping Action Wales.