EPPING FOREST: Asbestos fly-tip is only latest dump in forest (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

EPPING FOREST: Asbestos fly-tip is only latest dump in forest

5:40pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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DEADLY asbestos dumped at the heart of Epping Forest has prompted the City of London Corporation to speak out over rampant fly-tipping.

The sheets of corrugated asbestos found at the side of a road near the Wake Arms roundabout in Epping this week are only the latest in a long-line of objects dumped in the forest this year.

Forest services manager Keith French said there had already been 565 fly-tips in the forest so far this year in what is an escalating problem.

He said: “It's not unusual for all sort of hazardous waste to be dumped. Asbestos is one of the things that quite regularly gets dumped.

“Sometimes you get substances in drums and you've no idea what they are. We have to bring in specialist companies to deal with it. In some case were it seeps into the ground you have to take the soil away and it can kill the environment.

“We also get lots of fridge which have CFCs, and gas cannisters which are very expensive to be disposed of, and tyres are a huge problem.”

Fly-tip disposal costs alone have cost the corporation over £50,000 this year.

Mr French said: “It's a problem that's increasing all the time because there's an annual increase in landfill tax. As the costs go up on landfill, fly-tipping increases. We are in September and we have easily already passed the 2007 and 2008 figures.”

Forest keeper Alan Simpson came across the latest asbestos dump yesterday (September 1).

He said:“Asbestos is a dangerous substance and we have had to put hazard tape on to let people know to keep away from it. It was all over the road initially “These people obviously don't care about he environment and they're not concerned about other people's enjoyment. All they're interested in is money. They don't do this for nothing.”

Four people have been successfully prosecuted for fly-tipping in the forest this year and Mr French warned homeowners they were liable for legal action if they used a company to dump their waste without properly checking their credentials.

He said: “What people have got to realise is the cost of the damage. All this money is going to clear up after them and it's not available to manage the forest. They don't see the damage they are doing to the forest. It's an eyesore and damages the ecology.”