Vermin Thriving on Rising Levels of Fly-Tipped Waste Could Carry Disease : Security Firm Urges Council Waste Tips to Reopen Amid Fears of Plague

With Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)across the UK remaining closed, security company, the VPS Group, has called on the government to list waste disposal staff as critical workers, require councils to re-open HWRCs, and allow households to include waste disposal as an essential trip in a bid to cut the ‘mountains of waste are being fly-tipped in epic proportions across Britain.’

"Illegal fly-tipping in the UK had already reached record levels this year, before the coronavirus pandemic had arrived, at a rate of one dump of rubbish occurring every 30 seconds, with over a million recorded cases in 12 months," commented James Ford, Director of Branch Operations, VPS. "Now though, with council sites closed, it's a free-for-all, and reports are already indicating that figure has trebled."

The fixed penalty fines for minor fly-tipping and the more substantial incidents which can attract criminal records, unlimited fines and 12 months' imprisonment, are not regarded as likely to impact on the problem, according to VPS, who deploy one of the largest Europe-wide networks of CCTV towers to secure and protect properties and remote sites.

"There's just not enough resources available to police this type of crime," explained Ford. "Quite apart from the environmental hazards, the costs to local authorities and to private landowners of the clean-up, there is the significantly serious risk of the spread of other diseases, from the explosion in the rodent population that occurs with rotting waste."

The company went on to note that pest-related problems include bacterial infections like Weil's disease, an infection spread in the urine of rats, and can cause jaundice and sickness in humans.

Further, mice in the UK are also said to to carry a new US-born virus called hantavirus, where victims can suffer a fever and even internal bleeding and organ damage.

Two years ago, an expert from the government's Animal and Plant Health Agency warned that the bacterium responsible for the Black Death, which killed 3 million people, half of the UK's population in medieval times, could find its way back to Britain. He said black rats, the bacterium's hosts, had recently reappeared in some parts of the UK, adding "The species has the potential to reestablish large populations in areas of urban decay".

Apart from calling on the government to re-open official waste tips, the VPS Group are also recommending:

Installing wireless remote monitored CCTV at sites regularly being targeted by fly-tippers

That people caught on camera in the illegal act of fly-tipping should be named and shamed

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