Court throws out attempt to shift blame for fly-tipping

Correspondence addressed to Mr Kusznir was found amongst the dumped waste

A local man who tried to blame his neighbours for fly-tipping has been fined after his details were found in bags of waste dumped only yards from his home.

Joshua Kusznir, 27, of Pike Street, Rochdale appeared at Manchester & Salford Magistrates’ Court on Friday 15 December, where he pleaded guilty to an offence contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In January 2023, a council environment warden inspected the discarded bags on Pomona Street, Rochdale, to find correspondence addressed to Mr Kusznir, who ignored several requests to attend an interview with the council, which resulted in him being taken to court.

He denied fly-tipping the waste and told the court that his bin had been full, so he had placed a single bag of waste in one of his neighbour’s bins. He then claimed the neighbour must have removed the bag and put it where it was found.

He was ordered to pay a fine of £100 and a victim surcharge of £40 for breaching his duty of care by not ensuring his rubbish was passed to an authorised waste carrier.

Councillor Liam O’Rourke, the council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, said: “Small acts of mindless dumping of rubbish like this might seem insignificant, but we all have a duty of care to dispose of waste in the right place.

“A bag of rubbish placed next to a bin or added to an existing pile of waste is still fly-tipping, and we continue to educate our residents that we will not take any form of dumping rubbish lightly. Don’t think it’s someone else’s responsibility, it’s yours.”

This now makes 20 successful convictions for the council for environmental crimes this year.

Residents can report fly-tipping at rochdale.gov.uk/flytipping or by calling 0300 303 8884.

The council offers two free bulky waste collections of three larger items per household per year.

Collections can be booked at rochdale.gov.uk/bulkywaste up to three weeks in advance.