FLY-TIPPERS have been branded as ‘environmental terrorists’ as the battle to stamp out the issue in the borough continues.

Illegally dumping waste and littering costs Warrington Borough Council around £600,000 a year.

Nationwide waste and recycling company BusinessWaste.co.uk says the ‘fly-tippers’ label is far too bland for the danger and destruction they cause and called for a stronger term as it emerges that organised crime is behind many large dumping incidents.

“We don’t think it’s too over the top calling these criminals environmental terrorists,” says BusinessWaste.co.uk spokesman Mark Hall.

“They damage local communities and the countryside and we need to make it a truly shameful crime, with truly fitting punishments.”

Cllr Tony Higgins, the council’s cabinet member for leisure and community, said the impact the issue has on residents is extremely damaging.

He also backed labelling perpetrators as ‘environmental terrorists’.

“There is no such thing as fly-tipping being a victimless crime, we are all victims and we pay dearly for it,” added Cllr Higgins.

“The fact that it’s costing the council taxpayer £600,000 a year to deal with is money that could well be directed to community projects or improving our community centres but, unfortunately, this crime is impacting directly on the delivery of community projects.

“The crime of fly-tipping needs to be called out.”

The Labour-run council continues to call on the public to play its part to help combat the problem.

To report fly-tipping or littering, residents are asked to provide as much detail as possible about the location of the waste.

If someone witnesses rubbish being dumped, they are asked to provide the date, day and time of the incident, as well as a description of the people dumping the waste and, if a vehicle was involved, the make, model, colour, and registration number of it.

To report an incident visit warrington.gov.uk/flytipping.

Anyone who thinks the dumped rubbish is hazardous is urged to call 443322.