Plea to stop dumping waste across Falkirk district

Falkirk Council, along with local authorities across Scotland, plan to allow people to begin using sites for excess household waste from Monday, June 1.

It will reopen its sites at Roughmute and Kinneil from 8am on that day and they will operate until 6pm, seven days a week for the first fortnight.

The tips have been closed since the end of March as the need to use them was not deemed an ‘essential journey’ under the coronavirus guidelines.

However, many people have noticed a rise in indiscriminate dumping of waste across the district – and not always on back roads or secluded spots.

One householder who lives on Bonnyhill Road, between Falkirk and Bonnybridge, said there had been a huge increase in fly-tipping in recent weeks.

She said: “We have always had problems in this road as people feel the need to empty their rubbish out as they drive but it has gone to a whole new level. There are tyres, chairs, bikes, household waste,mattresses to name a few of the items

“We are so fed up clearing all the mess and in the recent batch of rubbish we came across a syringe and sanitary products. This weekend we removed a large duvet and pillows!

“Normally this road is a route into the Falkirk Wheel which must leave visitors with a terrible impression of our area.”

Earlier this month the landowners group Scottish Land and Estates highlighted the worst examples of fly-tipping across the country, including white bags of clinical waste being dumped in Falkirk.

Chief executive Sarah-Jane Laing said: “The message to the public is clear: if your bin is overflowing or you are having a clear-out, please keep your rubbish on your own property until the tips reopen.

“How would you feel if you had to clear up someone else’s asbestos, dirty nappies or human faeces from your property?”

Falkirk East MSP Angus MacDonald is also asking his constituents to report any illegal dumping to the ‘Dumb Dumpers’ website online.

He said: “It’s important that we continue to do what we can by pitching in to crack down on illegal fly tippers in Falkirk district.”