Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is the illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it.

Tipping a mattress, electrical items or a bin bag full of rubbish in the streets causes a local nuisance and makes an area look ugly and run down. At the larger end of the scale fly-tipping can involve several truckloads of construction and demolition waste being tipped on different types of land.

Fly-tipping is often carried out by “man with a van” waste collectors who will offer to take household waste away for a sum of money and then fly-tip it down country lanes; the obvious example is garden waste.

Fly-tipping is a serious criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted. The courts have various powers available to them to tackle fly-tipping including imprisonment, unlimited fines and an order to deprive rights to a vehicle used to commit the offence.

As a householder you must check that the person who is offering to remove your waste has a valid Waste Carriers Licence because if your waste is fly-tipped by this person and the waste is found to have originate from your house and you can’t provide evidence that the person was authorised to carry it, you may be prosecuted too.

Businesses have a Duty of Care to have their waste removed by a registered Waste Carrier such as their local council or other waste companies. If your business waste, like a householder, is found to have been fly-tipped or you fly-tip it yourself to avoid paying for disposal costs, the fines in Crown Court are unlimited and could lead to up to 5 years in prison.).

How do I contact my local council to report fly-tipping?

All fly-tipping needs to be report to the local council where the offence has taken place. Most of the district council have forms to report fly-tipping online where you can highlight its location on a map and upload photos if you have any.

Contact your district council

Someone has fly-tipped rubbish on my land, what do I do?

If you are a private landowner and become a victim of fly-tipping then it is your responsibility to safely dispose of the waste and pay any costs for doing so.

Report the incident to your local District Council or the Environment Agency. Although they have no obligation to remove the waste, they may be able to provide guidance on the best way to deal with the removal of the waste, particularly if it is toxic.

You will need to then decide how to deal with the waste that has been dumped on your land. Make sure the waste cannot be interfered with, added to or escape (for example blow into roads or onto other land).

Check that any contractor employed to remove the waste is a registered Waste Carrier. You can do this by checking online at the Environment Agency website or by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506.

Think about why your land has been targeted:

is the area easy to access?
is it in an area where people cannot see who is doing the fly-tipping?

Once you have established the reason why your land has been targeted you may want to take steps to make it less vulnerable.

How can I stop my waste from being fly-tipped?

Bulky waste such as sofas or fridges

Your local council is not obliged to remove these. If you cannot take it yourself to a local Household Recycling Centre, all the local District Council's in Worcestershire provide a bulky waste collection which is chargeable. Please contact your local District Council for more information.

Garden waste

All the District Council's in Worcestershire provide a chargeable garden waste service. Otherwise take it your nearest Household Recycling Centre.

Please note: that anybody who comes and tends to your garden and is paid for the service must dispose of the waste themselves. If someone knocks on your door offering to cut down bushes or trees make sure they have a Waste Carriers Licence.

Commercial waste

If you run a business, you must have a contract with a registered waste carrier to ensure that your waste is being taken away and disposed of correctly.

They will provide you with Duty of Care notices to show where your waste is being taken for disposal either in paper or electronic form.

You must keep this information safe as you may be asked to provide evidence of your Duty of Care if your local council has a team responsible for Enforcement.

If you are disposing of business waste yourself you cannot take it to a Household Recycling Centre, you must go to an official site that takes business waste and pay a gate fee and landfill tax.

If you are asking a third party (such as a builder or gardener) to remove your waste as part of their job, you should ensure that they are a registered waste carrier.

Ask to see their certificate or alternatively check with the Environment Agency.

If you see fly-tipping taking place

If you see someone fly-tipping take note of the following:

date, time and place of the incident
hat the waste looks like and how much there is
descriptions of any person and/or vehicle involved along with registration number

As fly-tippers are doing something illegal, they do not want to be caught. Do not approach them or put your own safety at risk

Both the local authority and the Environment Agency have powers to tackle fly-tipping and have agreed a fly-tipping protocol to address the important issues associated with the problem. The protocol sets out who will deal with different types of incidents.

Local authorities will deal with smaller scale, more frequent incidents, particularly those in the streets and the Environment Agency will deal with larger scale, more serious incidents of illegal waste disposal, fly-tipping of hazardous waste and tipping carried out by organised criminals.

Reports to the Environment Agency can be made using their National Hotline on 0800 807 060.