A new fixed £300 penalty for those who illegally dump household waste has come into force in Wales.

The new rules were approved last week to help make it easier for councils to take action against householders who have failed to check if they have transferred their waste to those not authorised to handle it.

Enforcing authorities will also have the discretion to offer the option of an early payment of £150.

Councils can currently issue fines for allowing waste to by fly-tipped, however, the person the fine is issued to can refuse to pay it and ask for it to be dealt with in court instead, which can take time and prove costly to the taxpayer.

The Welsh Government said more than 60% of fly-tipped waste comes from households and while these householders haven’t fly-tipped the waste themselves in most cases, they have failed to carefully check who they passed their waste to for disposal.

Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government added: “We all have a responsibility to prevent our waste form getting into the wrong hands and these regulations will provide councils and Natural Resources Wales with an alternative way of tackling the issue.

“We consulted widely on these proposals and received widespread support. Local authorities who responded asked for a consistent, national approach to setting penalties and for the level of the penalty to be proportionate to the offence.”