WEST Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion has invested £100,000 into tackling illegal fly-tipping across the force area.
It includes an innovative £10,000 tyre-tagging scheme led by the police in partnership with the nine local authorities.
It will see garages across West Mercia being given a kit to mark tyres scheduled for disposal, using an invisible but forensically traceable liquid.
Tagging tyres will allow authorities to easily trace any that are fly-tipped back to the garage responsible for disposing them and prevent garages from being targeted by organised criminals to illegally dispose of tyres.
The scheme has also been backed by the Environment Agency, as illegally dumped tyres has a negative impact on the environment, as well as looking unpleasant.
Sgt Marvin Choudhury, from West Mercia Police’s Problem Solving Support Team, said: “Illegal fly-tipping is an issue across the force and by working with our partners at Smartwater and local authorities we hope to crack down on this offence.
“Over recent years we have started to notice a connection between tyres being dumped illegally and organised criminals. By tagging tyres that are no longer fit for purpose, it will allow us to locate which garage the tyres have come from and to see if they have any links to organised crime.
“Garages across all four policing areas within our force; Shropshire, Herefordshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire will benefit from this scheme, and I am very pleased to have the support of all nine local authorities within these areas.”
Tania Tucker, Senior Advisor from the Environment Agency said: “This tyre tagging scheme initiative being launched by West Mercia Police in partnership with local councils, is timely to see as legitimate disposal costs of tyres have increased, leading to more occurrences of fly tipped and illegally dumped tyres. Dumped tyres have significant environmental impacts and the cost to clear them can be significant for landowners and local councils.
“Marking tyres with Smartwater and making sure that they are collected by a registered waste carrier, will help garages and other businesses to make sure that their waste tyres are not illegally disposed of and enable them to demonstrate that they are complying with their duty of care.”
Anyone who sees illegal fly-tipping you should report it to their local council.
To become part of the programme, people should call their local Rural and Business Police officer via 101.
