Fly-tipping - the Illegal Dumping of Waste
What is fly-tipping?
Fly-tipping is the illegal disposal of household, industrial, commercial or other ‘controlled’ waste. The waste can be liquid or solid; controlled waste includes garden refuse and larger domestic items such as fridges and mattresses.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence pursuant to section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990:
a person shall not... deposit controlled waste, or knowingly cause or knowingly permit controlled waste to be deposited in or on any land unless a waste management licence authorising the deposit is in force and the deposit is in accordance with the licence.
What are the impacts of fly-tipping?
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) stresses the range of impacts of fly-tipping:
Fly tipping is a significant blight on local environments; a source of pollution; a potential danger to public health and hazard to wildlife. It also undermines legitimate waste businesses where unscrupulous operators undercut those operating within the law.
“Antisocial environmental crimes that pose risks to human health and animal welfare, spoil relationships between neighbours and their wider community, and affect the way people feel about the place that they call home”
The Government currently only measures the cost of clearing larger scale fly tipping incidents, described as “tipper lorry load size or larger”. In 2018/19, 36,000 or 3% of total incidents were of ‘tipper lorry load’ size or larger, which is similar to 2017/18. For these large fly-tipping incidents, the cost of clearance to local authorities in England in 2018/19 was £12.9 million, compared with £12.2 million in 2017/18.4.
The National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (to which Defra provides the secretariat), estimates fly-tipping costs between £86m-£186 million every year to investigate and clear up. This cost falls on taxpayers and private landowners.
Why is there a problem?
The National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) notes that the causes of fly-tipping are many and varied, including:
Financial gain or saving by the perpetrator
A lack of waste disposal facilities or access to them
Laziness and an attitude that someone else will clear up the waste
Private landowner responsibility
On private land it is the responsibility of the landowner to remove fly- tipped waste and dispose of it legally. Landowners should ensure that they use an authorised waste carrier to remove the fly-tipped waste. For further information see GOV.UK guidance, Fly-tipping on private land: landowner responsibilities, updated July 2019. This guidance sets out the limited circumstances in which the Environment Agency will remove the waste:
Powers available to require the clearance of fly-tipped waste
Local authorities and the Environment Agency have powers to require landowners to clear waste from their land. The local authority and Environment Agency also have powers to enter the land and clear it and may seek reimbursement for costs related to this.
Reporting fly-tipping
Regardless of whether land is public or private, if anyone has witnessed or found fly-tipping, they can report it to the relevant authority (which can be found on Defra’s online service for England and Wales).
Reports should include as many details about the incident and type/amount of waste as possible.
The NFTPG offers the following advice about reporting fly-tipping on its website:
What should I do if I see someone fly-tipping?
Witnesses are vitally important in enabling action to be taken against people who fly-tip waste, so please do not hesitate to report any incident that you witness as soon as possible.
Please do not put yourself in danger by approaching anyone you see dumping waste; they are criminals, who may be involved in other criminal activities, and as such are unlikely to respond well to being challenged. If it is possible to observe them safely, the more information you can provide, the better the chances of an investigation.
Useful information includes the following:
Time and date of the incident
Description of person(s) dumping waste
Description of vehicle(s) involved, including registration numbers
Description of the waste dumped
Photographs can also be beneficial, but only if it is possible to obtain them safely
Do not try to rummage through the waste yourself to look for evidence, as there may be hazardous or sharp items hidden among the waste. Council staff will carry out a thorough examination of the waste as part of their investigation.
Fly-tipping and Coronavirus (COVID-19)
From March 2020, many local authorities have closed their household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) due to issues with maintaining Coronavirus-related social distancing restrictions. Some local authorities have also had to scale back on household doorstep recycling collections.
During this time there have been reports of an increase in fly-tipping activity. The specialist publication ENDS reported that 51% of councils surveyed had experienced increased levels of fly-tipping in their areas.