Flytippers who dump rubbish illegally are costing taxpayers more than £1,200 a day.

Figures released yesterday show there were 8,955 cases recorded in Sussex last year.

The 11 district, borough and city councils spent £441,603 clearing up the mess in the year up to March 2005, which works out at £1,209 every day.

Worthing Borough Council spent the most, £68,440, followed by Brighton and Hove City Council which spent £51,376 clearing up after 1,321 flytippers.

Matt Easteal, the city council's enforcement officer, said 19 people were taken to court for flytipping in that time and surveillance cameras were being used to catch offenders in the act. He said: "A burglar would net around £40 to £60 for each burglary but a flytipper with an old van that's not taxed or tested can make the same money by flytipping.

"But flytipping is a difficult thing to do. You have to get somebody to pay you to take the rubbish away and then go somewhere you are not going to be seen at night and unload the waste."

He said flytippers in Brighton usually work alone, knocking on doors asking people if they want rubbish cleared.

They visit businesses such as tyre shops, now being targeted by enforcement officers demanding paperwork to prove where their rubbish went.

People who pay flytippers to take rubbish are legally liable if caught, even if they did not know it was being disposed of illegally.

Mr Easteal said new, harsher fines were having an impact.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 means flytippers can be fined £5,000 the first time they are caught and up to £50,000 if convicted again. Brighton and Hove City Council is also using on-the-spot fines, a policy being considered by Adur and Worthing councils.

Paul Willis, waste strategy manager at Worthing Borough Council, said most cases of flytipping were down to people putting their household rubbish out on the wrong day.

Council workers look for documents in the rubbish and talk to the culprits.

He said: "There are traders who don't have trade waste agreements and just dump their rubbish in the road using black bags so it looks like household waste."

There have been no prosecutions over the last year but he said persistent offenders could be taken to court.