A Cotswold resident has been fined for binning hazardous waste.

The district council’s Environmental Regulatory Services team has handed out a £400 Fixed Penalty Notice after a resident illegally disposed of asbestos roof tiles in their bin.

Binmen found the tiles as they were tipping the bin into the lorry during a collection in February.

Councillor Andrew Doherty, cabinet member for environment, waste and recycling at Cotswold District Council, said: “Hazardous waste must be treated properly to ensure that it’s not a risk to the health of crews or the public.

“Even if it’s unbroken when placed in a bin, asbestos in the refuse system will at some point be compacted or crushed, and when damaged it will release airborne fibres, which are well known to be hazardous to health.”

The resident has admitted to the offence and was fined for breaching their Duty of Care.

The action has left the council facing a bill of over £1,000 and a level of disruption to its kerbside service while it dealt with over nine tonnes of contaminated household waste, which has now been specially disposed of. 

Councillor Doherty added: “The lorry collecting from this resident was half-full when tipped, so the entire load had to be quarantined for a number of days until it could be safely disposed of via an approved waste disposal route. The vehicle was out of action for the whole time this took. The Council has also needed to employ the services of a licensed asbestos contractor to remove the resident’s bin, which then has to be replaced at further cost.

“We are grateful to the Ubico crew for their quick response and for immediately taking the right actions to ensure the rest of their round could be completed safely so that there was no delay to residents' scheduled collections.”

On the back of this incident, the council is looking to make residents aware of the risks of hazardous waste.

Under no circumstances should asbestos be disposed of in general refuse but should be disposed of using the free local Household Recycling Centre (HRC) facilities.

Householders needing to get rid of small amounts must first order a set of heavy-duty plastic asbestos bags and request a permit through Gloucestershire County Council. 

Once received, the asbestos should be securely wrapped, double-bagged and sealed before being booked in at the local HRC using the relevant online car or van/trailer booking form.

Only one request per household is allowable in any given six-month period.

The site cannot accept any asbestos removed by a contractor and therefore classed as commercial waste, or be used for large quantities of asbestos removal.

Bags and permits can be requested at forms.gloucestershire.gov.uk/HouseHoldAsbestos.