Everything you need to know about fly-tipping

We are all aware that fly-tipping is illegal, yet it still happens all the time. In 2018/2019, the local authorities in England dealt with 1,072,000 incidents of fly-tipping which is an astonishing 8% increase on the year before. A third of the incidents involved household waste, whilst the most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on public highways (pavements and roads). Fly-tipping is a criminal offence and it is punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 or up to five years’ imprisonment.

What is fly-tipping?

Fly-tipping is defined as ’the illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it’. This waste can be either liquid or solid and the amount of waste can vary in scale. The most common size category for fly-tipping incidents in the year 2018/2019 was the equivalent of a ‘small van load’. This was around 33% of the fly-tipping incidents recorded.This was followed by ‘car boot or less’ with 30% of the incidents being this size. The cost of fly-tipping to British taxpayers is £58 million a year.

Why do people fly-tip?

Fly-tipping is generally down to both laziness and saving money. Having your waste removed can cost money. It can also cost money to dispose of waste at your local household waste recycling centre yourself. Some people think that they can get around these costs by dumping their waste on public highways or private land. There are many cases of people fly-tipping on private car parks and drives, blocking the way for the residents who live nearby.

Why is fly-tipping bad?

As well as having unwanted rubbish on your property, there are many other reasons why fly-tipping is illegal. It can be dangerous – any sharp items can be a danger to both humans and animals in the area in which it has been dumped. There have been cases where dogs have been injured whilst on a walk because fly-tippers have dumped construction waste in the area. Risks to local wildlife can include animals consuming waste or getting trapped or injured in it. Fly tipping can also affect our enjoyment of an area. It can turn an area of natural beauty into a dumping ground and somewhere that nobody wants to visit.

A lot of the waste that is fly tipped can be recycled. If it was taken to a proper household waste recycling centre, then it could be sorted and recycled properly. Uncontrolled illegal waste could contain toxic materials that are harmful to the environment, wildlife and us humans too.

What happens to fly-tipped waste?

Unfortunately, the fly-tipped waste is usually left to the landowner to remove. If you are unfortunate enough to have waste left on your land, you may be able to get your local council to remove some of it. Otherwise, you are likely to have to pay a waste clearance company to get rid of it.

What can we do to prevent fly-tipping?

The best way to prevent fly-tipping is to make sure that people have options for their waste. Here at Clearabee we offer several different types of waste collection. First of all we have our man and van service. This can be booked for the same day and our professional teams are available to collect across the UK. Our skip bags are a great option if you will be collecting the rubbish over a period of time. Once we have posted the skip bags out to you, you will have six months to fill them up and arrange a collection. They are also perfect for people who don’t have the room to put up a traditional skip. If you do have the room for one, then we offer skip hire too. If it’s just a sofa that you need to get rid of, then you will benefit from our sofa collection and removal.