SEEING RED: Why can't we deal with rubbish properly in this country?

As you have probably noticed, it doesn't take much to grind my gears.
Fly-tipping costs the country millions of pounds each yearFly-tipping costs the country millions of pounds each year
Fly-tipping costs the country millions of pounds each year

But one thing which is guaranteed to make me see red is people who drop litter - or fly-tip.

At best they are lazy and at worst they’re a menace to the environment.

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Of course, punishments are handed out to cretins caught dumping waste - but despite the deterrents, some still feel they are above the law.

This was brought firmly to my attention when an email landed in my inbox on Friday.

Apparently, Friday January 5 was known as ‘fly-tipping Friday’.

We do love to give certain days of the year a tag, but ‘fly-tipping Friday’ probably tops them all when it comes to idiocy.

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According to the email, councils up and down the land were ‘bracing’ themselves for a day which experts believed to be ‘Britain’s biggest day for illegal dumping of unwanted goods and discarded rubbish’.

The first Friday of the New Year traditionally sees huge amounts of fly tipping as householders struggle to get rid of discarded Christmas waste and packaging as many become confused by irregular bin collections (don’t me get started on people who get baffled by easy-to-follow instructions regarding collections at Christmas, by the way). I say traditionally, but fly-tipping is something which has never crossed my mind as something to do if my bins are over-flowing.

Then, again, despite not being perfect myself, it’s never crossed my mind to drop litter in the street let alone go out to dump my Christmas tree or an un-wanted present down a dark, back lane in the middle of nowhere.

But while I may be a law-abiding goodie two shoes, it appears some not a million miles away from here most definitely aren’t

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For some eager clowns in Long Eaton believed it was a good idea to illegally dump festive waste by bins at a locked recycling centre.

They were reportedly seen climbing over railings to dump a flat screen TV, a half-eaten selection box and dozens of empty beer bottles. But they’re not alone.

Because according to the latest Government figures, from 2016-17 there were more than a million fly tipping incidents throughout England. This led to a total clearance cost of over £57.5 million but offenders were also fined a total of nearly £723,000. Of course, councils have a responsibility to provide adequate waste removal services, but surely households can prepare themselves.

After all, we have enough practice - especially as Christmas has taken place every year at the end of December for as along as I can remember!

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- I stick up for football fans, but those so-called supporters who threw fake eyeballs at Dunfermline’s Dean Shiels - he has one eye - and taunted West Brom’s Jake Livermore over the death of his baby son last week are beneath contempt.

Apparently it’s called the beautiful game.