Regular rubbish offenders will be given �50 fines in Plymouth

The city council is to issue fixed penalty fines for repeat offenders who put rubbish out before 1800 GMT on the night before collection.

Plymouth City Council said if litter was put out early, it attracted vermin, led to litter and could be used by criminals looking for personal information such as discarded bank and credit card details.

The Arson Task Force said there were about 2,000 deliberately set rubbish fires in Devon and Cornwall each year, but that if rubbish was not put out so early, it was less likely to happen.

Unnecessary cleaning

Plymouth City Council said hundreds of households consistently put their rubbish out too early and it is to issue regular rubbish offenders with �50 fixed-penalty notices.

Councillor George Wheeler said: "It is wrong for a small number of inconsiderate citizens to spoil the clean environment that most of us want. It is also wrong that the Council should have to spend Council Tax unnecessarily cleaning up after these people.

"This is not simply a council problem. This is about getting the people who live here to think about their neighbours and not to leave rubbish rotting in the streets."

The Arson Task Force said rubbish pile fires can easily spread. They can also mean the emergency services could be delayed in dealing with more urgent incidents.

Earlier in the week it was announced that the task force has had its funding extended by the government.

The task force, which involves Devon and Cornwall Police, plus both the counties' fire brigades, began three years ago.

It is to receive �218,000 over the next two years.

Similar schemes are also being created in neighbouring Somerset and Dorset.