Environmental Wardens

• Litter
• Fly Tipping
• Fly Posting
• Duty of Care

What is litter?
Legally, the word litter is given a wide interpretation. Litter can be as small as a sweet wrapper, as large as a bag of rubbish, or it can mean lots of items scattered about. The offence of "leaving litter" (section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) states that if a person drops, throws, deposits or leaves anything so as to cause defacement in a public place, they could be committing a littering offence.

What are the most common forms of litter?
Cigarette ends, followed by sweet wrappers and matchsticks are the most commonly found items of litter.

Litter longevity
Some litter can last longer than others often taking years to degrade. Plastic bottles can last indefinitely, and plastic dropped in a field to day could still be there in the next millennium. Aluminium litter such as drinks cans last from 80 to 100 years, as do nappies. Plastic bags given away free by supermarkets last between 10 and 20 years. Cigarette butts, orange peel banana skins and apple cores can last up to two years.

The Law
It is an offence to drop litter and Environmental Wardens will issue anyone guilty of an offence with an on-the–spot £50 Fixed Penalty Notice. Failure to pay this fine within 14 days will result in the person being reported to the Procurator Fiscal and on conviction could result in a fine of up to £2,500.

Reporting Litter Problems
If you know of any areas which are regularly subject to litter then please telephone or email the Environmental Wardens as detailed in the "Contact Us" box on the side of your screen.

No ifs.... No Butts

The campaign which was launched in August 2005, aims to tackle the problem of cigarette litter within North Lanarkshire. Personal ashtrays, also called "Butt Boxes" can be obtained from the Environmental Protection team. These pocket sized platic ashtrays allow smokers to stub out their cigarettes and store them until they can empty it in to a bin. Thus avoiding a £50 fine for littering. There has been a phenomenal uptake of these "Butt Boxes", particularly leading up to the new smoking ban. Some 40,000 have been distributed at numerous town centre information events, as well as at the smoking ban seminars, Housing Offices, First Stop Shops, Environmmental Health offices and by request through the contact centre.

If you wish to request some personal ashtrays, simply email the Environmental Protection team as detailed in the "Contact Us" box at the side of your screen.

[Back to top]

Fly Tipping

The illegal disposal of waste is one of the most widespread and growing environmental crimes. Too often people come across unsightly, illegal tipping that has appeared in their street, in their community or on their land. As well as being a blight on our environment, in some cases it can lead to serious pollution of the environment and cause harm to human health.

There is no excuse for fly tipping waste. North Lanarkshire Council provides free uplifts for domestic items and civic amenity sites are located at various points throughout the area. Businesses should also be aware of their responsibilities as they have a "Duty of Care" to ensure that their waste is disposed of in a proper manner.

It is estimated that each year 10,000 tonnes of material is cleared from roadsides as a result of fly tipping costing the Council an estimated £750,000.

It is because of both these significant environmental and financial costs that the Environmental Wardens pursue a zero tolerance approach to fly tippers. Routine patrols are undertaken throughout North Lanarkshire, targeting known fly tipping sites and CCTV surveillance is used to help catch the offenders. Those persons caught are reported to the Procurator Fiscal and on conviction receive a fine of up to £20,000, 6 months in prison or both. Fixed penalty notices for fly tipping and littering were introduced within the Anti Social Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004. This new law allows the Police, SEPA and the Council the option of  fining  offenders  £ 50. You can find more information on the Anti Social Behaviour (Scotland) Bill on the Scottish Executive website.

Reporting Fly Tipping
If you wish to report any incident of fly tipping then please telephone or email the Environmental Wardens as detailed in the "Contact Us" box at the side of your screen, including as much detail as possible – registration of vehicle, time, date etc.

[Back to top]

Illegally fixing notices and posters to street lampposts and railings is known as fly posting.  The levels in the North Lanarkshire area have increased. This is a nuisance and a danger to road users and pedestrians. If you report fly posting, our environmental wardens will remove it. We will contact those responsible for it and they will be asked to stop. If they continue, we may take legal action against them.

Reporting Fly Posting
To report fly posting, please fill in the online fly posting report. You can also visit our streetsmart  and environmental wardens areas for more information on our services.

Use the contact us box at the right if you need further information about our services or if you want to ask about fly posting.

Duty of Care

Every business that creates waste is obliged to dispose of this waste in a safe and correct manner. Businessess must dispose of their waste through a registered waste management company.

[Back to top]