Traders dodge waste charges

There is no direct charge to use public waste facilities

New restrictions are being brought in to tackle the problem of illegal dumping at tips.

The action comes after builders in Derbyshire started using household tips to dump commercial waste.

Now the amount of waste people that can take to tips in Derbyshire is to be limited.

Some builders are trying to avoid paying landfill tax by posing as private users.

Height barriers

Builders, landscape gardeners and other tradespeople should pay £14 per tonne in tax when they dump material for disposal in landfill sites.

But Derbyshire County Council says they are increasingly posing as private householders to take rubbish for free to civic tips, including those at Bretby, Loscoe and Ilkeston.

Height barriers will be put in place from March and users will be able to dump a maximum of two bags weighing up to 55 pounds, or 25 kilograms.

Anyone wanting to dump more material will have to go to tips at Alfreton or Chesterfield, where they will be charged.