Falsely accused of 'illegal dumping'

thesiren

I would be very grateful for any advice on this, I'm in a bit of a state:

In Feb I moved to a cul-de-sac where binbags are left at a set of railings at the edge of the cul-de-sac, and collected on Thursdays, and you have to buy those Greyhound stickers and affix one to each bag so that it can be collected. My housemate and I have always affixed a sticker to any bags we put out for collection, but we've noticed that there are bags there which don't have stickers, and we've also noticed bags getting torn and ripped as they pile up and other people throw out various bits and pieces (including hoovers and electronic equipment). There are also wild cats nearby and I've noticed them tearing up bags in a nearby cul-de-sac.

Today I received in the post a demand for €150 for 'illegal dumping'. Enclosed with it was a photo of a Tesco receipt with my name and address on it. Given that my housemate and I carefully tie our binbags up before putting stickers on, we are astounded that anything could have come out of one of these bags. There is no way I (or he) have ever thrown anything out without a sticker on it.

Would anyone have any advice on this? I have done nothing wrong, and although I am going to phone up tomorrow and appeal this, I don't know what to do to prove that I'm not responsible (my housemate says he thinks one of our bags could have gotten torn - but that's hardly our fault if it has happened).

Any advice is gratefully appreciated, I am really upset at being falsely accused of something and possibly having to pay such a huge amount when I didn't do anything wrong.

SB2013

thesiren wrote: »

(my housemate says he thinks one of our bags could have gotten torn - but that's hardly our fault if it has happened).

Why not? It's still your rubbish.

Joey the lips

I don't like this system. If you have kept receipts for your tags just show you bought them. What is to stop someone taking the sticker of one bag and putting it on the other,

It's to me a defence once you can prove your tags were bought

thesiren

SB2013 wrote: »

Why not? It's still your rubbish.

So we are meant to keep watch 24/7 on a binbag to make sure it doesn't get torn? especially by wild cats which are presumably out and about whilst we are asleep?
What about people with actual bins, and someone comes along and starts throwing the rubbish in those bins about the street - is that their fault because it's their rubbish?

thesiren

Joey the lips wrote: »

I don't like this system. If you have kept receipts for your tags just show you bought them. What is to stop someone taking the sticker of one bag and putting it on the other,

It's to me a defence once you can prove your tags were bought

Exactly - I have actually seen binbags in neighbouring estates/cul-de-sacs where clearly a sticker has been ripped off one bag and stuck onto another. But whether the council believe this or not, I don't know.

slimjimmc

thesiren wrote: »

and we've also noticed bags getting torn and ripped as they pile up and other people throw out various bits and pieces (including hoovers and electronic equipment). There are also wild cats nearby and I've noticed them tearing up bags in a nearby cul-de-sac.

and this is probably the reason why many Local Authorities have implemented or at least drafted bye-laws requiring all domestic waste for collection to be presented in wheely-bins or other secure containers.

Example: http://www.clarecoco.ie/Accessible_HTML/waste_water_environment/Waste_Bye_laws/Clare_Waste_Bye_Laws.html

5. Obligation to Present Household Waste or Commercial Waste in a Wheeled Bin

Subject to Bye-Law 11 of these Bye-Laws the occupier of any premises shall, at the prescribed time and in the prescribed place present household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be, for collection, [by the service provider providing the service of the collection of waste to such occupier] wholly contained within a wheeled-bin.

(Extract)

OP check if such a bye-law applies in your area. If so then you might indeed have allegedly committed illegal dumping by putting out plastic bin bags unprotected.

thesiren

slimjimmc wrote: »

and this is probably the reason why many Local Authorities have implemented or at least drafted bye-laws requiring all domestic waste for collection to be presented in wheely-bins or other secure containers.

Example: http://www.clarecoco.ie/Accessible_HTML/waste_water_environment/Waste_Bye_laws/Clare_Waste_Bye_Laws.html
(Extract)

OP check if such a bye-law applies in your area. If so then you might indeed have allegedly committed illegal dumping by putting out plastic bin bags unprotected.

HI, thanks for this.
When we moved in, the previous resident told us that binbags are put out in the area where we leave them (with stickers attached). Our neighbours all put their bags (some with stickers attached, although not all) in the same place and nobody has a bin anywhere - the same goes for the rest of the immediate neighbourhood (I tend to go out for runs and have never spotted a bin anywhere, it's always bags with stickers).

thesiren

Bit of an update: I rang Dublin City Council this morning, the man I spoke to was very polite/nice and said that he had actually had several phonecalls from someone near me complaining that she noticed people taking stickers off some bags and putting them on others, and that this had happened to several people she knows. I was advised to fill in an appeal form and post it to them so I'll include the details of that phonecall as well as photocopies of the receipts we have of the stickers and see what happens.

Citygirl1

You should really only be leaving out your rubbish on the morning of the collection day, or as close as possible to the collection time.

Rubbish collection happens on the same day each week. You mention that they can be torn up by animals overnight, but there should be no need to leave them in the collection area overnight. If fact, in some areas people have actually been instructed to only leave out the rubbish on the morning of collection.

If you know that they always come later in the day, and someone happens to be around, they can just put out the rubbish at lunchtime.

Of course, this completely doesn't eliminate the risk of tags being torn off, but significantly reduces it. It is also much more hygenic and pleasant for the neighbourhood not to have a pile of rubbish bags building up all week, which attracts cats and vermin.

thesiren

Citygirl1 wrote: »

You should really only be leaving out your rubbish on the morning of the collection day, or as close as possible to the collection time.


Of course, this completely doesn't eliminate the risk of tags being torn off, but significantly reduces it. It is also much more hygenic and pleasant for the neighbourhood not to have a pile of rubbish bags building up all week, which attracts cats and vermin.

Totally agree. I mentioned the overnight thing as we did once leave the bags out the night before, but every other time it has been one of us leaving it out on our way to work.

Of course this does not apply to the rest of the neighbourhood, as there are piles of bags there all week.