More than £150,000 was spent on clearing up fly tipping incidents last year – despite a drop in the number of incidents.
In 2016 more than 3,150 reports of fly tipping were received by the Bedford Borough Council compared to nearly 5,000 in 2013.
The new statistics reveal that more than 70 per cent of these incidents were on a highway or road – just months after a road was closed for three days due to fly tipping.
A country lane was blocked for three days after an 'obscene' amount of waste was dumped.
The huge mounds of rubble, thought to have been dumped by builders, were strewn across the rural road leaving no room for motorists.
The road finally re-opened three days after it was initally shut, after council workers pushed the rubbish to the side of the road.
Dumping waste illegally carries a fine of up to £50,000 or a prison sentence of up to five years however the council only fined a total of £816 last year.