A private member's bill in the Scottish parliament could offer some hope in tackling the increasing issue of fly-tipping affecting farming businesses in the country.
A recent roundtable event saw groups such as NFU Scotland, Police Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful discuss ways to tackle the crime.
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who also joined the event, described fly tipping as a 'major issue' across the Scottish countryside.
He said that action needed to be taken in the form of a members' bill to change the law when it came to dealing with those responsible.
Areas to change the law included better collection of statistics, shifting the liability for clean-up to the source of the waste rather than landowners, and strengthening fines to act as a deterrent, he said.
Despite recycling centres re-opening, fly-tipping and illegal dumping incidents are still being recorded daily by farmers.
Notable cases in the past year have included rotting meat, hazardous asbestos waste, domestic appliances, household waste, and garage waste including tyres and car batteries.
Welcoming Mr Fraser's suggestion for a private members' bill to tackle the issue, NFU Scotland said current penalties were 'clearly not working' as a deterrent.
"Fly-tipping is an issue that is unfortunately increasing in both volume and frequency," the union said.
"The prospect of a private member’s bill in the Scottish parliament could offer some genuine hope of tackling this unsightly blight on rural Scotland.
"The dreaded sight of abandoned, sometimes dangerous, waste is not simply an eyesore on Scotland’s beautiful countryside; it can, and does, cause harm to livestock, crops, nature and wildlife.
"With more and more cases, it is an issue that farmers are having to deal with more often, costing them not just in terms of money but also large amounts of their time."
