Environment Agency bids to crack down on fly-tipping 

The Environment Agency has launched a new National Waste Crime Survey, seeking insight from farmers, landowners and others to help share efforts to combat fly-tipping. 

Defra last issued annual figures on local authority fly-tipping records in January 2024, covering 2022-23, but these had to be updated in March after eight councils were found to have supplied incorrect information. 

Although there was a 1% reduction in incidents, the figure also showed that littering on footpaths and bridleways rose by 7%, to 181,000 cases. 

The number and clearing costs of large fly-tipping incidents also increased, and the total cost to local authorities of clearing them rose by £2.5m to £13m. This figure does not include the costs to private land or estate owners. 

The data for 2023-24 has yet to be reported but the Environment Agency says waste crime is estimated to cost the English economy £1bn per year. 

The Countryside Alliance is a member of the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group and a spokesman said waste crime “is a scourge on our natural environment and a blight on the farms these criminals still too often target. 

“Farmers and other private landowners who fall victim are required by law to clear their land and bear the cost of doing so, which can be especially ruinous at a time when they are already under pressure.” 

Farmers and landowners affected by fly-tipping can complete the survey at bit.ly/wastecrime25