A business owner from River is concerned the price increase at the waste site in Dover is leading to fly-tipping.

Nick Philpott, of Crabble Lane, works for himself as a gas engineer and needs to dispose of small quantities of cardboard and polystyrene at the Dover Household Waste Centre in Whitfield.

Previously this would cost him around £6 but, since April 1, but he says new contractors Biffa have implemented a charge of £54 for up to three quarters of a tonne.

Biffa says the minimum charge is actually £44.68 plus VAT for one-third of a tonne.

Mr Philpott, 52, said: “It’s ridiculous. I’ve never dumped that sort of weight.

“It’s going to encourage fly-tipping. It’s getting worse . Every couple of weeks we were seeing a lot dumped near our home but it’s more like daily.”

He said businesses had to buy a licence to dispose of their waste at the transfer site.

He said: “We all realise we’ve got to pay but I don’t dump three quarters of a tonne up there a year.”

He said when fly-tippers dumped rubbish the district council had to pick it up and take it to the waste site anyway.

“Smaller trade waste operators are encouraged to aggregate or bulk up smaller loads.” - spokesman for Biffa.

A Kent County Council spokesman said the contractor set the prices, but added: “We will, though, be talking to the provider to understand the justification for the charge and whether it is in line with that offered in other local authorities.”

A spokesman for Biffa Municipal, which manages the Whitfield transfer station on behalf of KCC, said the recently-announced price increase for handling trade waste was not unreasonable.

From April 1 this year, the price of disposing a tonne of trade waste increased from £129.27 to £135.73 excluding VAT.

The spokesman said this was due to rising tax and costs.

He said: “Biffa has also introduced a minimum charge of one-third of a tonne around £44.68 plus VAT. This is designed to help avoid the historic, and unfair, subsidising of smaller trade waste loads by larger loads. Biffa’s minimum weight charge is broadly similar to, or less than, those imposed by other Kent facilities that handle trade waste.

“Smaller trade waste operators are encouraged to aggregate or bulk up smaller loads.”