Parts of Bristol are such a nightmare for fly-tipping and people dumping rubbish in their own streets that they are becoming ‘no go zones’ with skip hire firms saying they willl refuse to leave their skips overnight.
And after what has been called ‘the worst example of its kind’ appeared overnight on the corner of one street in the city, that area could now be added to the list.
Images of the skip were posted on social media by the Keep Bristol Tidy account on Twitter.
A skip hired from Bateman Skips was left on Milner Road near the junction with Ashley Down Road in Horfield.
It was soon filled up - and became a dumping ground for household waste for the surrounding area - so much so that it overflowed and littered the street and pavement.
The Keep Bristol Tidy account said it was the worst example of the phenomenon they’d ever seen.
“Why are we allowing this in the streets of Bristol?” they asked.
“Containment requirements are very clear on skip licences for public highways,” he added.
The boss of the city’s biggest skip hire firm said the issue of people hiring skips only for them to be filled up with other people’s waste was a huge one for them.
Lee Graham, the general manager of Bateman Skips, said it wasn’t as straightforward as issuing covers for skips, and in many cases when they do the person hiring them doesn’t use them anyway, or people just pile stuff on top of the cover.
“It is an absolute nightmare for us, and often for the customer,” he said. “People hire skips only for anybody from anywhere to come along and just dump their stuff in it - it’s very frustrating.”
Mr Graham said the firm had a list of areas where they had experienced problems like this before - and now only offered a ‘wait-and-drop’ service, instead of the usual skip hire for days or weeks at a time.
“The best solution is having it off the road, in someone’s garden or on their drive, but there are obviously a lot of places where this is not possible,” said Mr Graham.
“There are many areas dotted around Bristol where we’ve had problems like this - and this area will be added to that list - where we now have to talk to the customer and offer them a wait-and-drop service.
“That involves us leaving a skip for 35-40 minutes or so, and waiting with it, for them to load it up, rather than leaving it for a couple of days and coming back and finding this sort of thing has happened,” he added.
The boss said the firm would attend to the skip and clear the mess straight away.
Keep Bristol Tidy also reported the issue to Bristol City Council and Bristol Waste.
