Fly-tippers dump 200 tonnes of asbestos in Hertfordshire

About 200 tonnes of asbestos that was dumped illegally in four lorry trailers has been moved to a specialist disposal centre, a council said.

The hazardous waste was found at various locations along the A10 and A120, which connects Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, and Harwich, Essex.

Hertfordshire County Council said it was one of the most serious fly-tipping incidents it has had to deal with and the clean-up has cost up to £200,000.

Stephen Giles-Medhurst, a Liberal Democrat councillor and executive member for highways at the authority, said: "This is nothing but a criminal activity that has cost taxpayers heavily as we not only had to fund the clean-up but the disposal of this waste."

There are strict regulations around the removal of asbestos and its disposal.

The council added the "dangerous" shredded material had to be removed from the trailers by hand by specialist contractors in protective suits, and then decontaminated.

Stephen Giles-Medhurst said fly-tipping on this scale meant there was less money available for other essential works

The council said it was now trying to track down those responsible and would recover costs where possible.

Medhurst said disposing of hazardous waste in this way was "reckless, irresponsible and can be very dangerous".

The public, businesses and road users have been encouraged to be on the lookout for abandoned trailers, which were "unremarkable in appearance".

Early reporting would "help us and our partners identify incidents more quickly and minimise potential environmental and financial impacts", he added.

Asbestos was used in homebuilding between the 1950s and 1980s and remains the largest single cause of work-related fatalities, external in the UK.

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