Flytipping costs taxpayers thousands in cleanup bills.

FLYTIPPING, or illegal dumping of waste, cost the taxpayers of Ealing nearly £300,000 in cleanup expenses last year.

Now Ealing Council has teamed up with the Ealing Times to help catch the criminals who dump items such as fridges, building debris, industrial waste and bin bags in the streets, parks and rivers of Ealing.

Last year there were 9,958 reported incidents of flytipping. Of these, officers in the Envirocrime Unit investigated, 2,230 and issued 404 fixed penalty notices.

As part of a month of action the council is targetting people who transport waste illegally and is planning stings on well-known hotspots.

Councillor Will Brooks, who is in charge of the environment around the borough, said: “We want to send a message to these people that it is unacceptable to just dump your waste on our streets.

“Residents will not put up with it and, as a local authority, we want people to know we will prosecute and seek the strongest possible sanctions against offenders.

“In hotspots we will use CCTV as that gives us irrefutable evidence, but the money used to clean up waste could be better spent if people used the recycling facilities we offer.”

In these pages we will show pictures of people caught on camera littering the streets, as well as reports of people prosecuted for offences.

We want your help to name and shame the people who are turning the borough into an unhygienic dumping ground for filth.

Anyone with information can call the envirocrime team on 0208 825 6000.