I've NEVER heard of anyone / any council kicking up a stink about that. So what's the difference if it's junk?
They don't, it's quite rare to hear that.
What we have in that particular case cited is likely some cop with nothing better to do, citing some "law" that's probably never been tested in court in this aspect, and probably one local council that's had a whinge about it.
Once again, charged != convicted. There are many ifs and buts to this.
What if the original owner of the goods didn't know his goods "became the councils property" and didn't agree to that?
What if the owner intended for the good to become public domain?
Is the council really the legal owner of the goods?
Has the council effectively stolen from and profited from the owners?
That council land is also public land, how does that influence thing?
Many councils have programs that actively encourage recycling and minimisation of rubbish that goes the landfill, so was the guy charged simply doing his bit in good faith to live up to that?
And there are probably half a dozen other aspects to it.
Until a law (esp local council ones) has been tested in court, and precedents set, especially in cases like this that have many aspects to it, they don't mean much.
But newspapers, and cops, and people like to go around citing various things that may or not actually apply.