When our last washing machine died, I'd already partially stripped it to see if it could be fixed, it couldn't. I removed the concrete and motor and put them all in the boot. SWMBO helped me lift out the carcass at the tip (much to the surprise of a worker there, seeing a couple of septuagenarians easily manhandle a washing machine).

"The plastics probably go in a wheely bin."

And when full, taken to a lane somewhere :(

Fly tipping is a big issue in the nearby lanes and the council takes action on both the tipper and the resident if they are traceable. There was a hot tub dumped a couple of weeks ago in the entrance to a farmers field.

An increasingly large problem in my rural neck of the woods - I now regularly see fly-tipped furniture, large and small household appliances, always dumped just inside farm field entrances, which very conveniently puts the onus on the farmer to sort out (which most cannot likely afford to do if it happens regularly) rather than the council.

The fly-tippers have gotten wise, so the council and Police rarely bother to investigate even when on non-private land, because rarely (if ever) is there CCTV cameras covering such areas (forget about nearby properties whose CCTV might catch a vehicle passing - they rarely do this even to catch violent attackers in urban areas - I know from personal experience).

Frankly investigating such crimes is near the lowest in the few genuine priorities Plod has these days.

One of my bugbears about modern society is how so many people and companies, organisations (both of whom profit / rely financially on this industry) and politicians tout recycling of modern goods, yet the overwhelming majority of them are rarely economic or practical to actually recycle, because so many are 'integrated' and almost, if not impossible to separate into their component materials and re-use - especially electronics.

Local authorities now make fly tipping an attractive alternative by creating booking systems for the local tip and charging for many items.

Far better to tax appliances (actually all materials) when they are sold and make end of life recycling much easier.

Taxing goods when sold would make companies far more aware of the full "cost" to the environment as designs and materials used would directly impact prices and competitiveness.

The problem would be how those taxes would then get apportioned and spent on the relevant collection, processing and recycling facilities, etc. My local council can't even get changes to the bin collections right (hardly rocket science), so having a national government-administered system to then direct to unitary authorities, county district councils doesn't sound that appealing either.

Sad to see the countryside littered with stuff.

I share your scepticism about the capacity of local authorities and government to manage anything more complex than a p155 up in a brewery (possibly not even that) - however:

• there could be no direct link between taxes raised on materials used in manufactured items , and the costs incurred in recycling
• assume (say) £500m were raised from material taxes
• this could be allocated as additional funding to local authorities to invest in recycling facilities and additional running costs
• local authorities could be legally obligated to provide recycling facilities in much the same way as the are obliged to deliver adult care and education

Current policies intended to reduce waste by making recycling expensive and difficult may do little to encourage careful use of resources and actively promotes fly-tipping.

Far better to discourage waste creation from the outset - possibly through taxation. A classic example - a trivial 5p charge for carrier bags reduced usage by ~95%.

The Council here in sunny West Wilts won't let anyone visit their recycling centre unless in a vehicle

"You must attend a site in a vehicle. Pedestrians are not permitted to enter the site."

So if you have an old toaster or kettle and don't run a car then the only option is the domestic landfill bin. I thought we were supposed to be saving the planet?

I keep meaning to write to them and ask why.

I had the same problem at my local 'recycling' centre in Herts. It takes me less than 5 minutes to walk there from my flat (about 3mins by car because it's a much longer [and often busy] route by road) and, up until the Plandemic, was able to do so.

Odd how from then onwards, suddenly all 'walk-ins' were banned, and you either had to phone up beforehand to 'say you were coming' giving them time to 'prepare for a walk-in' (see below for 'why') OR just drive there (as you say, hardly 'environmentally friendly') even when bringing along small items you could easily carry (it's not as though you'd be hefting along asbestos, an old bath or washing machine) for recycling or to go in their general waste skip.

The reasons I was given by operatives and the council for the changes were because (no evidence given to back this up I might add) 'a person died because they were hit by a vehicle (not here) leaving such a site, and/or that items carried in may not be accepted (how would this be different to those carried in a vehicle other than amount/weight?) and people 'might' be disinclined to take them bak home to dispose of 'somehow' in their own general waste bin (which would likely have at least as much restrictions on what goes in them).

I thought this was yet another cop-out excuse to put people off going and to reduce the opening days/hours of the sites, thus reducing council costs, whilst maximising income via charging people to take away large items from home or commercial waste / recycling such as from home refurbs, old boilers, etc.

All this does is further encourage fly-tipping, as people obviously just dump old furniture in the countryside as much as old boilers and domestic electrical goods. At least when a shop takes the old product away for 'disposal and/or partial/full recycling' they are liable and *some* traceability / legal responsibility is available if this go awry further down the chain.

I suggested to the council that given very little, if any, 'preparations' need to be made to 'accommodate' walk-ins' (how do they differentiate between that person and people who car/van on the gate?) - literally 30 seconds or less, all they needed to install is a 'doorbell' (on a timer [cameras on site would catch any kids mucking about] so not to work out of operational hours / days) to attract operatives attention, given most of the time they are just standing around doing not very much.

Needless to say, nothing has been done in the 2 years or so after I raised this.