Fly-tipping statistics for England 2023/24

The latest fly tipping statistics for England for 2023/24 have been published. They can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england 

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed said:

“Fly-tipping is a disgraceful act which trashes communities and its increase is unacceptable. Communities and businesses shouldn't have to put up with these crimes.

“This Government will crack down on fly tipping and punish rubbish dumpers, forcing them to clean up their mess.

“Through the new Crime and Policing Bill we will also give ministers the power to issue statutory guidance to councils to drive up fly-tipping enforcement.”

Background

• Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment and dealing with it imposes significant costs on both taxpayers and businesses.
• Local authorities are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse and they have been given enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping.
• The Crime and Policing Bill gives ministers powers to issue statutory enforcement guidance to English councils which they must have regard to, to support local authorities to exercise their fly-tipping enforcement powers consistently and appropriately.
• The government has committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has set this as one of Defra's top five priorities.
• To support the government in achieving this goal, a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts has been established from across government, industry, academia, and civil society to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England.
• We have committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created and will provide further details on this in due course.
• We will continue to work with stakeholders, including local authorities, the Environment Agency and NFU, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to help share best practice on tackling fly-tipping.
• We are looking at reforms to the waste carrier, broker and dealer regime. Proposed reforms will mean those transporting or making decisions about waste must demonstrate they are competent to make those decisions, face proper background checks when applying for permits and will be required to display permit numbers on advertising.
• Mandatory digital waste tracking will help to reduce threats to the circular economy such as waste crime, including fly tipping and illegal waste exports. The waste tracking service will now be implemented from April 2026. We will be updating stakeholders on scope and timings to meet this commitment by May 2025. 

Please also find below a summary of the key findings: 

• Local authorities in England dealt with 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents, an increase of 6% from the 1.08 million reported in 2022/23.
• 60% of fly-tips involved household waste. Total incidents involving household waste were 688,000 in 2023/24, an increase of 5% from 654,000 incidents in 2022/23.
• The most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways (pavements and roads), which accounted for 37% of total incidents in 2023/24. In 2023/24, the number of highway incidents was 427,000, which was a decrease of 1% from 433,000 in 2022/23.
• The most common size category for fly-tipping incidents was equivalent to a ‘small van load'(31% of total incidents), followed by the equivalent of a ‘car boot or less' (28%).
• 47,000 or around 4% of total incidents were of ‘tipper lorry load' size or larger, which is an increase of 11% from 42,000 in 2022/23. For these large fly-tipping incidents, the cost of clearance to local authorities in England in 2023/24 was £13.1 million.
• Local authorities carried out 528,000 enforcement actions in 2023/24, which was a slight decrease from the 530,000 in 2022/23.
• The number of fixed penalty notices issued was 63,000 in 2023/24, a decrease of 5% from 67,000 in 2022/23. This is the second most common action after investigations and accounted for 12% of all actions in 2023/24.
• The average court fine increased to £530 in 2023/24. The total number of court fines decreased by 8% from 1,491 in 2022/23 to 1,378 in 2023/24, with the combined value of these fines decreasing by 7% to £730,000.