FLY-tipping has always been with us.

Mostly caused by laziness, the habit of simply dumping unwanted goods and rubbish at the side of the road or the nearest beauty spot has blighted our lives since communities moved together.

The creation of public tips and rubbish removal removed some of the problem, of course. However, the problem has been growing again, in part due to the growing cost of getting rid of unwanted waste.

Landfill has become expensive as high charges have been placed on the disposal of goods and materials considered unfriendly to the environment.

These have been sensible charges, making all of us think again about what we dispose of and how. Yet the scourge of fly-tipping shows there are those who simply won’t or can’t pay.

What is to be done when, as this paper reports today, Southampton remains the flytipping capital of the county?

Certainly we can call on those who know who is behind such actions to report them to the authorities.

In the end such actions ruin the environment for us all.