Businessman known as the 'Recycling Man' pleads guilty to fly-tipping
A businessman, known in his local area as the 'Recycling Man', has admitted fly-tipping waste which he was supposed to dispose of properly.
Andrew Williams pleaded guilty to fly-tipping after appearing in court on Wednesday, 7 August.
Mr Williams often promotes his business, Recycling Man, on Facebook, assuring that all waste is disposed of correctly.
However, he was convicted of illegally dumping waste he had been paid to get rid of responsibly.
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council said Mr Williams had decided to "blight" his local neighbourhood and fly-tipped waste at Parish Road in Rhigos.
According to the council, Mr Williams agreed to undertake the removal of works for £100 on his own.
In court, he admitted that the contents of the shed were larger than he anticipated and took longer to load.
The council found that he "completely miscalculated" the nature of the job and was unable to take it to any facility as it was too late in the day.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has acknowledged that Mr Williams is a registered waste carrier with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and usually disposes of waste at an authorised site.
But on this occasion, the council said Mr Williams decided to illegally dispose of the waste that he had charged a person to dispose of correctly.
As is the case in many councils across Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said it maintains a zero-tolerance stance on littering and fly-tipping.
According to the council, following an investigation which pointed directly to him, Mr Williams could not justify his actions when confronted with "irrefutable" evidence by its enforcement officers.
Despite being shown the evidence, he denied the act of fly-tipping but was unable to account for how the waste ended up at the site in question.
Mr. Williams, of Bell Street in Trecynon, was then requested to produce transfer notes for the waste he had disposed of around the time of the offence, which he did not do.
With the substantial evidence against him, he was referred to the courts for illegal waste disposal under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which defines the offence of fly-tipping as the "prohibition on unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal etc. of waste". Such violators risk facing significant fines.
Mr Williams appeared in court on Wednesday, 7 August, where he pleaded guilty to fly-tipping. He was handed a 12-month community order, which included 100 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay costs of £1,001.51 and a victim surcharge of £114, which came at a total of £1,115.51.
A spokesperson for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said: "Fly-tipping will not be tolerated, ever. There is never an excuse to blight our towns, streets and villages with waste, and we will find those responsible and hold them to account.
"As this case highlights, we investigate ALL fly-tipping reports and will uncover all the details as this offender found out. Removal of fly-tipping costs hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, which should be spent on key front-line services at a time when budgets are under significant pressures.
"We will use every power available to us to hold those accountable for their actions. Many of the items we recover on our streets, towns and mountains could have been taken to a Community Recycling Centre or collected from the kerbside at no extra cost."
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