Fly-tipping incidents rose in most parts of Argyll and Bute between the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years, a report has revealed.
But it is also felt that the council is not facing the same increase in such incidents as other local authorities have.
The biggest increase in incident service requests was in Oban, Lorn and the Isles, where the figure went from 40 to 57.
In Helensburgh and Lomond it went from 127 to 140, while in Bute and Cowal it went from 70 to 72.
Mid-Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands saw a decrease from 48 to 33.
The same report also revealed that wardens spent 1,037 hours on fly-tipping incidents in 2020/21 compared to 902 in 2019/20. The number of hours doubled for both Helensburgh and Lomond, and Mid-Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands.
The document will go before the council’s audit and scrutiny committee on Thursday.
The scrutiny review of fly-tipping was conducted before the council elections in May.
Cllr Lynch said in the report: “Management considers that Argyll and Bute Council does not have the increasing issue with fly-tipping that is being experienced by other councils. They are aware of only six incidents during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
“Incidents experienced are infrequent and take up a small percentage of the environmental wardens’ time.
“Waste is mostly composed of construction materials, tyres, white goods and other larger household items, there can also be seasonal materials such as gardening waste. Other instances occur where bins are overflowing and waste is left beside them.
“Reports of fly-tipping are received via the council’s customer service centre and passed to roads and Infrastructure services for action. Wardens will investigate the location as soon as possible to avoid escalation of an occurrence.”
The report also detailed the council’s partnership work with several organisations with regards to littering and fly-tipping.
Cllr Lynch added: “The council also works very closely with the national park authority as they operate within our boundaries.
“Two previous partnership arrangements were less successful based at the Blackhill civic amenity site in the Helensburgh area, unfortunately items were not being taken away for deployment and break-ins and damage occurred at the site.
“There is also some joint working with West Dunbartonshire Council as a neighbouring authority but there were some legalities regarding responsibilities, this will be revisited prior to the start of the new season to discuss ways of assisting each other.
“There are also some discussions on potential joint waste transfer stations as we progress towards the biodegradable municipal landfill ban that comes in to force in December 2025.”
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