A business owner in the UK has been fined for illegally dumping trash in his local area.
Illegal dumping shows a complete lack of respect for the neighborhood, while also creating a whole host of environmental issues and health risks. According to Leicestershire Live, a local businessman was found to have dumped a dozen or so trash bags and cardboard boxes filled with waste outside some apartments in Loughborough, England.
Mohammed Ahmed Ismail is the owner of a small convenience store, Euro Market, but was discovered to be the person behind the illegal dumping. He was fined £698.14, or around $925, and was sentenced to 100 hours of voluntary community service work.
A paper by the Conference of Environmental Science and Technology estimated that there are 98,995,672 tons of illegally dumped waste across the globe. This staggering figure is hard to imagine, but it weighs around 22 times more than all the elephants on the planet.
As well as being an eyesore to the neighborhood, illegal dumping can start to stink and attract vermin, which can cause serious health concerns. If electrical items are dumped and damaged by the weather, they could potentially cause fires.
Some people are also more likely to litter in an area that hasn't been properly maintained, so illegal dumping can create a vicious cycle of waste in an area.
Also, pets and wildlife may end up eating discarded food, which could be fatal.
Businesses are often to blame for harmful practices that put people, animals, and the environment at risk, such as illegally dumping or throwing out huge amounts of edible food as part of their store policy.
If you work somewhere that creates a lot of waste, perhaps you could try advocating for change at your workplace. Partnering with local charities to distribute unsold food is just one option that businesses can try to reduce waste.
Councillor Beverley Gray, the lead member for climate action in Loughborough, commented on Ismail's harmful actions in Leicestershire Live: "[We] will continue to take action against those who think it is acceptable to pollute our public spaces with their waste."
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She added, "I hope this case sends a clear message that we expect full cooperation when we are working to protect our communities and the local environment."
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