THE region's farmers are being urged to abide by new agricultural waste laws which came into force earlier this month.
Introduced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the regulations mean an end to the traditional farming practice of burning waste such as plastics and using dumps for unwanted materials.
They came into force on May 15 and Steve Jackson, the Environment Agency's agricultural waste implementation manager, said: "Continuing to put waste in farm tips will mean that we will have to regulate the tip in the same way as a large commercial landfill site. This would be expensive and simply uneconomically viable for farmers.
"It really is vitally important that farmers in the North-East learn to dispose of their waste properly."
The Environment Agency has set up an advice line on 0845 603 3113. The guidelines are available on www.environment-agency. gov.uk, and a recycling directory is available on the website www. wasterecycling.org.uk
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