Braintree Council spent nearly £45,000 in taxpayer's money clearing up flytipping throughout the last year.

Figures released by the authority show there were 768 separate incidents involving dumped rubbish in the Braintree district between April 2017 and March 2018.

The council says removal of the rubbish set it back by £44,936.

During the course of 2017-18, a total number of 20,567 fly-tips were discovered across the county.

Braintree Council says an increasing number of people are being prosecuted for fly tipping despite having not committed the crime directly themselves.

Councillor Wendy Schmitt, who is responsible for environment and place, said: “Fly-tipping across Essex is costing taxpayers’ money to clear up – money that could have been better spent on vital services.

“We want to remind residents they can help reduce fly-tipping in our county by not passing waste onto a rogue trader, but also protect themselves from committing an offence.

“If you give your waste to someone else and it’s dumped, you could end up with an unlimited fine and a criminal record.”

Back in June, Thomas England was handed a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs for dumping asbestos and other items in Witham.

The 28-year-old, from Writtle, admitted the unauthorised deposit and disposal of waste at a property in Glebe Crescent when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates Court.

He was given 15 months in prison for the offence, suspended for two years, to do 250 hours of unpaid work, pay £1,000 in costs and forfeit the vehicle used to transport the fly tipped rubbish.

Braintree Council says it investigated a total of 206 incidents relating to flytipping in the last year and issued eight fixed penalty notices which helped recover £3,000.

A spokesman added: “There is a very broad criteria for fly-tipping which can be anything from a single black sack of rubbish, building rubble, to a washing machine or rubbish dumped a mile long.

“The enforcement team investigate all offences reported and where evidence is found to identify the offender or the origin of the waste, legal action is taken where appropriate.“

The Love Essex partnership, involving Essex councils and businesses, has relaunched its #CrimeNotToCare campaign to remind residents they could be adding to the fly-tipping problem if they don’t keep their waste out of the hands of rogue traders.

Residents are reminded to make simple checks before paying for a contractor to remove any waste.

To find out more information about the campaign, visit loveessex.org.

Or to report flytipping, contact the council on 01376 552525.