Earlier this year, we reported on the effects of fly-tipping here in the UK and just how bad the problem has become in many areas. Now that winter is nearly upon us and many neighbourhoods have begun their pre-snow clean-up programmes, we thought we would take another look at this growing problem and help people to understand it better.

What Is Fly-Tipping?

     What is fly-tipping and where did the name fly-tipping come from? Fly-tipping can be defined as "the illegal deposit of any waste on to land that does not have a licence to accept it". The term came about in the mid-1800’s when "on the fly" meant "on the move". This saying coupled with the act of tipping something out created fly-tipping.

     Today, there are more than one million incidents of fly-tipping reported annually leaving many landowners asking the question, ‘Where do I stand if someone fly-tips on my land?’ According to the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, the landowner is responsible for clearing away any rubbish dumped on their land. The instance, however, should be reported to the local authority which can be done via the Love Clean Streets App. Councils will not clear fly-tipping rubbish from your land but they might  investigate and prosecute.

     If someone dumps rubbish on your land, you should keep detailed records of your disposal costs, as these might be recovered if a prosecution is successful.

     Now, you might be wondering just how many cases of fly-tipping actually see prosecution every year. The answer is not very many. While incidents of fly-tipping are on the rise, there were only 1,602 prosecutions for fly-tipping last year, down from 2,135 the year before.

What Happens To Fly-Tippers?

     With 98% of fly-tipping prosecutions resulting in a conviction, fines up to £400 are given. Where does the £400 fine go? Typically, the fine is supposed to go to cover the rising costs of clean-up, but that hasn’t been the case. Fly-tipping costs councils and taxpayers a lot of money and the fines aren’t enough to cover even a portion of the clean-up costs. Enforcement cost councils £16.9 million on average every year, and that is on top of the £57.7m spent cleaning up the rubbish.

     What can you do to help? Report any instances of fly-tipping to your local council and provide as much information as possible. The more instances that are reported, the more that can be done about this problem that affects our environment.

Download The Love Clean Streets App Today

     Report environmental issues to your local authority using our simple to use app, and help make your community a cleaner, happier place to live. 

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