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Fly-tipping is the illegal disposal of waste without a waste management licence and is a wide-ranging offence. It covers dumping of a single black bin bag, up to thousands of tonnes of waste. Fly-tipping can be dangerous, pollutes land and waterways and costs the council tax payer significant amounts of money to clear away. The legislation tackling fly-tipping is complex and can generally be found in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence which is committed if either household or industrial and commercial waste is:
In addition, there is an obligation on any producer of waste to make sure that waste is disposed of properly. This extends to an obligation on householders to take reasonable measures to ensure that their waste is disposed of lawfully, by providing it to a local authority or business that has registered itself with the Environmental Agency. When disposing of waste to anyone other than your local authority, you should ask for the waste disposer's 'waste carrier number' which can be checked on the Environment Agencies Public Register. Anyone breaching this obligation could face prosecution and a fine of up to £5000.
Small businesses can make huge sums of money by dumping other people's waste, often multiple lorry loads, knowing that the local authority will have to clear it up and that the cost will be met by taxpayers. Such waste includes household, industrial and commercial. Some builders or van owners who hire drivers may remove household rubbish for a fee, only to dump it in the nearest lay-by, field or beauty spot. These businesses rely on householders not asking questions. These small carriers have the same duty of care toward the disposal of waste as the producers of the waste do.
People who collect or transport waste for profit must be registered with the Environment Agency under Section 3 of the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act (CPAA) 1989. A list of carriers registered with the Environment Agency is available on their website at: Environment Agency. The penalties for not registering are a fine not exceeding £5,000 (Level 5 on the standard scale). It is an offence to transport controlled waste without being registered under Section 1 of the CPAA 1989.From April 2006, there is also an FPN of up to £300 for failure to produce registration documents on request.
Note that employees of businesses who are caught transporting or handling controlled waste for profit in a vehicle without the business being a registered carrier of controlled waste, can NOT use the defence that they were acting under their employers' instructions.
The harshness of the penalty for fly-tipping depends on the seriousness of the offence, its impact on the environment and the cost of cleaning and dealing with any resulting pollution.
Householders can be fined up to £5,000 if they do not take reasonable measures to ensure that their waste is lawfully disposed of. Repeated fly-tipping may result in an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) being made against an individual.
A fixed penalty of £100 can be made against any householder who fails to comply with a notice issued for failing to properly use the facilities available to them to legally dispose of their waste. This includes failing to follow publicised collection arrangements, leaving waste out on the wrong day and/or at the wrong time or in the wrong receptacle. The local authority will need to ensure that collection arrangements have been well publicised and are reasonable. Most local councils provide waste disposal sites and recycling centres where you can safely and legally dispose of unwanted items.
Minor offences, such as failing to provide required documentation or failure of a small business to register as a waste carrier, may result in a fixed penalty of £300.
A breach of a business's duty of care to ensure that its waste is disposed of properly may result in a fine of up to £5,000. Repeated offending may result in an ASBO and/or forfeiture of a vehicle in order to interrupt or prevent the illegal activities of the business (usually done if the driver of the vehicle could not be identified) and/or the removal of a driving licence.
Serious offences committed on a commercial or industrial scale, such as illegal waste disposal and/or the contravention of permits, and/or a failure to comply with an enforcement or suspension notice, can attract fines of up to £50,000 and/or a maximum of 12 months' imprisonment if tried in the magistrates' court, or unlimited fines and/or 5 years' imprisonment in the Crown Court.
For more information on ASBOs, Fixed Penalty Notices and other anti-social behaviour measures, see our 'Anti-social behaviour' section.
The Environment Agency has the power to seize and dispose of vehicles used for fly-tipping. Local authorities can stop, search and seize vehicles they suspect are being used for fly-tipping (this must be done in the presence of a police officer). Vehicles which have been used for fly-tipping can also be forfeited to cover the local authority's costs for investigation, enforcement and cleaning-up of any pollution caused by the fly-tipping. If the forfeiture would affect the offender's legitimate activities or deprive them of their right to a private and family life under the Human Rights Act, forfeiture should not be considered.
The courts may order an offender convicted of fly-tipping to pay costs in relation to the enforcement authority's costs.
If you discover fly-tipped waste, do not:
If you have witnessed anyone fly-tipping or know someone who does so, then you should report it to:
Fly-tipping is dealt with under the same legislation in Scotland and Ireland - the Environmental Protection Act 1990. However, cases in Scotland would be heard in the Scottish courts system (i.e. probably the sheriff court).
Fly-tipping can, however, also be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice issued under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004.
Because there is such a strong overlap with littering, fixed penalty notices can now be issued for fly-tipping offences too. The fine is the same – £50 – but Scottish ministers can vary this amount, up to £200. Again, it is no longer necessary to catch the culprit in the act of fly-tipping, and a fine can be issued if it is clear who the fly-tipper is from the items they have left. Local authority officers, officers of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the police, have powers to issue fixed penalty notices.
In Scotland, the maximum penalties for fly-tipping are a £40,000 fine and/or six months' imprisonment in courts of Summary Procedure. Fines are unlimited, with imprisonment of up to five years if the case goes to a court of Solemn Procedure. If you see anyone dumping rubbish illegally in Scotland, then call the Dumb Dumpers Stop Line on 0845 2 30 40 90 or visit Dumb Dumpers
The main powers of the authorities dealing with fly-tipping are held in the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, Article 5 and the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, Article 5.
Fly-tipping can, however, also be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice issued under the Antisocial Behaviour (Northern Ireland) Act 2004.
You should report any instances of fly-tipping directly to the local council, but the Northern Ireland Environment Agency is the authority responsible for prosecuting fly-tipping offences.
There are plans in place to introduce legislation in Northern Ireland similar to the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 in England and Wales; however, this is still in the very early stages of consultation.
