Applications from East Ayrshire invited for flytipping fund
Published 19 Jul 2012 07:30
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Applications are being invited for a new £75,000 fund, launched today by Zero Waste Scotland, to help transform local areas blighted by illegal flytipping.
Grants of between £500 and £10,000 will be available to community groups, landowners and land managers in the East Ayrshire area, who are consistently battling the problem of unlawfully dumped waste, such as furniture, TVs, white goods and garden and comme rcial waste.
Last year, over 50 applications were received, with the successful projects awarded grants to clear over 127 tonnes of waste from 21 problem sites across Scotland. This included a £2,500 project carried out by BTCV Scotl and to help tackle the problem of regular flytipping of household waste on a public footpath, popular with walkers, which runs alongside the Muck Water on the edge of Dalmellington, adjacent to the B741 road. With over two tonnes of waste was removed, a nd a gate installed to prevent future flytipping, the area is now more accessible to local walkers.
The scheme is administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland, with support from the Scottish Flytipping Forum , and the deadline for application s is 31 August 2012.
Councillor Jim Buchanan, East Ayrshire Council Spokesperson for Delivering Community Regeneration said:
"I am very pleased that our local communities have the opportunity to apply for funding from Zero Waste Scotland again this year. Flytipping is a national problem and East Ayrshire ' s beautiful rural countryside is negatively affected by the thoughtless few who choose to dump their waste.
"In East Ayrshire we have a zero tolerance approach to flytipping. We have an established Corporate Enforcement Unit which pursues environmental crimes and the unit works closely with colleagues within Cleansing Services to tackle the scourge of flytipping. Partnership working is definitely the key to addressing illegal dumping, b y all working together we can make a real difference and help to keep Scotland beautiful."
Catherine Wilson, Litter and Flytipping Manager for Zero Waste Scotland said:
"W e had a huge response from the public following the launch of the fund last year, highlighting just how important it is to continue efforts to address flytipping.
"These grants will help to support those communities and landowners who are willing to take positive action to clean up dumping grounds and take measures to prevent it happening again.
"As we ' ve seen from last year ' s projects, this money can make a real difference to sites which have been blighted by persistent flytipping , and we look forward to welcoming applications from communities across Scotland ."
Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful said:
"As Scotland ' s charity for the environment Keep Scotland Beautiful is pleased to support Zero Waste Scotland with this work to tackl e the very real damage done to communities by the indiscriminate flytipping of waste. We encourage communities across Scotland to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the fund to improve their local environment."
Applications to the fund can be made at http://www.dumbdumpers.org/smallgrantscheme
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