A Sudbury man has been ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and pay £852.80 for fly tipping a van load of waste earlier this year.

In addition, Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court ordered Mark Anthony Collins, 49, of Raleigh Road, to pay the council’s costs of £792.80 plus a victim surcharge of £60, after he pleaded guilty to dumping waste on land without an environmental permit.

On January 11, a member of the public reported to Babergh District Council that a large amount of waste, including televisions, computer monitors, wooden furniture, plastic tubs, a number plate and fuel receipts had been dumped on the verge by a field gateway in Joes Road, Great Cornard.

The waste was cleared by the council’s rapid response service, who discovered some address labels linking the plastic tubs with a care home in Sudbury. Subsequent enquiries confirmed that the tubs had been given to Mr Collins, who had called at the premises on three occasions last year to ask for metal waste. The manager said Mr Collins had not provided a waste transfer note as required by law.

Mr Collins told the council he had taken the waste from his lock-up unit in Raleigh Road on January 10 and drove it in his transit van to the household waste and recycling centre early the next morning to find it was shut. He was running late so drove to Joes Road and dumped the waste there. While he had been previously registered as a waste carrier, his details were no longer correct and he was not registered as a scrap metal dealer with the council.

James Buckingham, Babergh’s environmental protection chief, said: “Babergh is part of a national pilot project on reducing fly-tipping, which includes ensuring businesses and residents understand their legal ‘duty of care’ in respect to waste, checking waste carriers and promoting enforcement. I hope this case will act as a timely warning to other unlicensed operators.

“There were 224 incidents of fly-tipping in the Babergh district in 2012/13 which cost over £13,000 to clear – a cost met by the taxpayer.

“The council will not hesitate to take enforcement action when an offender can be identified.”