Fly-tipping is the unauthorised depositing of waste on any land that does not have a licence or permit from the Environment Agency.
You can report incidents of fly-tipping using our online form.
To complete this form, you will need to tell us:
- your name, address and contact details
- where the fly-tipping is
- the date and time that you saw the fly-tipping
Response times
Once we receive your report, we will generally remove fly-tipped waste within 1 working day.
If there is and an excessive amount or the location is difficult to access, we will remove it within 5 working days.
This may take longer if we need specialist equipment or contractors to remove a fly-tip (hazardous waste and so on).
Committing fly-tipping
Under Section 33 of Environmental Protection Act 1990, it is a criminal offence to fly-tip. You can receive an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison if a court finds you guilty of fly-tipping. As a householder, you have a duty of care to make sure anyone removing waste from your premises disposes of in a legal manner. If you give waste to another person to dispose of and the waste is subsequently fly-tipped, you could be subject to a prosecution. This includes not being able to show who removed your waste. Anyone who collects waste for payment must register with the Environment Agency to transport waste. They must also give you a receipt for the waste they have taken. You may receive a £1,000 Fixed Penalty Notice, (FPN). This is reduced to £850 if paid within 10 days.
Waste carriers licence
If you are using a waste removal company, you can search the public register on the Gov.uk website to see if they hold a waste carriers licence.
How we tackle fly-tipping
We tackle fly-tipping by:
- investigating all reported incidents of fly-tipped waste on public highways and land
- prosecuting offenders wherever possible
- publicising successful prosecutions to act as a deterrent to others
- encouraging members of the public to report any offences they witness
- monitoring fly-tipping hot spots on a regular basis and remove waste deposits
- install covert CCTV in areas that are subject to regular fly-tipping.
- advising private landowners where their land is subject to regular fly-tipping
What we will not do