A window cleaner has been fined more than £500 for failing to correctly dispose of waste removed from a house he was renovating in Ipswich.

Matthew Lister, 38, of Sorrell Close, Ipswich, was ordered to pay a £200 fine, £300 costs and a £20 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to the offences last week.

Babergh District Council, which traced Lister after finding the waste dumped off the A137 at Tattingstone and also near Wherstead, has welcomed the magistrates’ decision.

“We are pleased with the magistrates’ decision which even including credit for his guilty plea, has resulted in him being fined more than he was paid, and being made to repay the council’s costs,” said James Buckingham, corporate manager for environmental protection at the council. “This was a costly mistake on Mr Lister’s part. Had he made a few simple checks before handing over the waste, as per his legal obligations, it would not have ended up being fly-tipped.”

Magistrates in Ipswich heard how Lister had been paid £175 to clear waste and a dismantled caravan from a friend’s grandmother’s house in Bucklesham, Ipswich, in September 2012. However, despite accepting a bonus from the grandmother, who believed Lister had been left out of pocket by completing the job, he had not in fact disposed of it himself.

Instead, Lister handed it over to some “unknown men” who had offered to take it in exchange for any metal found within. Lister failed to ask for proof that the men were registered with the Environment Agency to carry waste, where it was taken or for a waste transfer note.

“Although Mr Lister did not dump the waste himself, his failure to make basic checks as to whether the men he gave the waste to were properly licensed, resulted in the waste being dumped and significant clean-up costs totalling £230 being footed by Babergh taxpayers,” Mr Buckingham added.

“This is totally unacceptable and we will not hesitate to take action in such cases.

“Mr Lister was not a licensed waste carrier and so should not have been involved in taking the waste in the first place. Had he been properly licensed he would have been aware of his legal obligations.”

The district council spent more than £13,000 of taxpayers’ money to clear the 224 incidents of fly-tipping in the Babergh district in 2012/13.