Illegally dumped rubbish blights our environment and costs local taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds to investigate and clear up - so the District Council and its waste partners at AES are going to W.A.R on fly-tipping in the Moorlands.

Fly-tipping cost Moorlands taxpayers over £35,000 last year. This is money which could be invested in other areas of the community if people disposed of their waste correctly.

Offenders who are caught face prosecution and risk a significant fine of up to £50,000 or imprisonment. You can still be prosecuted if your waste is found fly-tipped, even if you didn't dispose of it yourself.

Councillor Sav Scalise, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: "Fly-tipping is a very serious issue which puts our staff, the public and our environment at risk.

"The fine for offenders found guilty of fly-tipping has recently been increased and our staff are always on the lookout for those responsible.

"What people may not know is that you can also be prosecuted if your waste ends up being fly-tipped. It's easy to avoid that by following some simple steps, which we've summarised in our W.A.R campaign, and I would strongly urge anyone paying for someone to dispose of waste to follow these steps."

Individuals or companies charging to remove waste must have a licence to do so. Residents can avoid scams and help keep the local environment clean by joining the W.A.R on fly-tipping and checking the following when booking an extra waste collection:

W: Waste Carrier licence - do they have one?

A: Are they going to dispose of your waste legally, and can they provide evidence?

R: Receipt - always get a receipt for your transaction

Councillor Scalise added: "We at the Council and AES share the anger and frustration residents feel when fly-tipping incidents occur and I want to reassure people that we are working hard to reduce it.

"Everyone can help us with that by remembering W.A.R and disposing of waste correctly. By working together in this way, we'll hopefully see a reduction in the amount of fly-tipping that scars our environment."

If you witness an act of fly-tipping you can call the police on 999 and report it as an environmental crime in progress.

You can also use the council's website to find out more information about fly-tipping, how to dispose of waste responsibly and report fly-tipping.