Fly-tipping, Cow-tipping, and Dumb Dumpers

Seeing as how my Chesney ancestors were of Scotch-Irish descent and were among the first settlers in this area of Appalachia in East, TN, I thought it would be fun to study up on the land that they came from and see what litter is like over across the big pond.

Turns out they have a big problem with Fly-tipping. Now I've heard of Cow-tipping and might have even participated in a few midnight runs on my neighbors cow pasture when I was a kid, but I had never heard of Fly-tipping in the sense that our Scottish friends use it in. Being from East, TN, I thought that Fly-tipping was when you tied a fishing fly on the end of a fly rod to catch some rainbow trout, but I was sadly mistaken. Fly-tipping over in other parts of the world is what we refer to as illegal dumping here in the good old US of A. Here is their actual definition of it:

"Fly-tipping is 'the illegal deposit of any waste onto land i.e. waste dumped or tipped on a site with no license accept waste'. Fly-tipped waste generally consists of large items of rubbish that are dumped illegally on land instead of being disposed of properly at a landfill site tip, often referred to as 'dumping'."

Just in case you don' t think they are serious about illegal dumping over there, take a look at the punishment if you get caught fly-tipping:

The following punishments can apply:

Fly-tipping fines are up to £20,000 and/or 6 months' imprisonment. Fines are unlimited if the case goes to the Crown Court or up to 2 years' imprisonment, and up to 5 years if hazardous waste is dumped.

It is also an offence to permit or authorise fly-tipping on land where a Waste Management License is not held.

Where fly-tipping involves the use of a vehicle, the driver can be prosecuted, as can the owner of the vehicle.

The police have powers to seize vehicles used for fly-tipping.

Maybe if a few of the red-neck litter bugs here in Tennesee had their monster trucks confiscated when they were caught throwing trash out the window, they would start to take it more serious.

So lets do a little more cow-tipping and a lot less fly-tipping, what do you say?