A WOMAN must pay almost £500 after a bag of her household waste was found dumped next to a bin on her street in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Tameside Council street cleaning staff investigated and reported the rubbish left on Nook Lane on February 15.
It was traced to Jolene Bamber, of Nook Lane, who was offered the opportunity to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice, but ignored all correspondence from the authority.
When she appeared at Tameside Magistrates Court on Friday, August 29, she entered a guilty plea to failing in her duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Ms Bamber told the court that although she had not fly tipped the waste herself, the waste had come from her property and she had not taken sufficient steps to ensure that her household waste was given to an authorised person for disposal.
The court imposed a fine of £40 and ordered her to pay £455 in costs for the clean-up and prosecution.
Tameside Council’s executive member for environmental services and neighbourhoods, Cllr Laura Boyle, said: “Just because waste is left next to a litter bin doesn’t make it acceptable – it is still dumping waste irresponsibly in the street, blighting the neighbourhood and incurring clean up costs on the local community.
“Fly tipping is quite rightly of great concern to local residents, the vast majority of whom take pride in their local areas and dispose of their waste responsibly.
“We will always take action when we find evidence of who is responsible for illegally dumped waste.”