COUNCIL chiefs in North Yorkshire are using new powers to crack down on fly-tippers.

Last year, there were more than 150,000 fly-tips of household rubbish across the Yorkshire region - much of it dumped by operators posing as legitimate waste carriers.

Between them, local councils spent £1,000 every hour clearing the debris - more than 75 per cent of which could have been disposed of at the nearest household waste recycling centre for free.

But all householders now have a responsibility to ensure their rubbish is passed on to authorised carriers only - and those householders not taking reasonable measures could face fines of up to £5,000.

North Yorkshire's executive member for environmental services, Clare Wood, said: "Fly-tippers rely on people not asking questions and not checking for registration, but now all householders have a responsibility to ask those questions and to check for that registration.

"Waste cowboys can make huge sums of money by charging to take household rubbish away illegally, before dumping it over the nearest hedge.

"If everyone takes responsibility for their own waste, we can cut the supply to the fly-tippers and drive them out of business, in turn saving council taxpayers millions of pounds."