What a load of rubbish! Fly-tipping epidemic costs UK local authorities almost a quarter of a million pounds to clean up in 2021

With fly-tipping steadily on the increase, the past year has seen some London Borough’s dealing with over 20,000 incidents each.

– The London Borough of Newham is the UK’s fly-tipping hot-spot with nearly 30,000 recorded incidents in 2021

– Councils in the UK each had to deal with over 3,400 fly-tipping incidents in 2021 on average

– New Forest District Council saw an increase of 194% in fly-tipping incidents between 2020 and 2021.

– The Orkneys and Ashfield District Council both saw the biggest growth in the financial impact of dealing with fly-tipping, seeing costs increase by 161% and 133% between 2020 and 2021

The British countryside is being damaged by fly-tipping with litter and rubbish common sights on the UK’s roads and verges. New research using freedom of information (FOI) requests to each of the UK’s local authorities carried out by outdoors brand TOG24, shows that fly-tipping increased by 49% between 2020 and 2021.

As well as being unsightly, blighting the countryside and posing a health hazard to humans, farm animals and wildlife, fly-tipping also means considerable costs for local authorities and taxpayers. Based on the FOI data returned, the figures reveal that the average local authority paid out a whopping £247,434 in 2021 clearing up litter left by thoughtless fly-tippers. The London Borough of Newham has spent over £1 million in 2021 cleaning up rubbish dumped by the public. And with over 400 local authorities across the UK, this figure is estimated to run into hundreds of millions for the whole of 2021.

Some of the worst affected areas of the country include the New Forest which saw a 194% jump in fly-tipping incidents between 2020 and 2021. Lewes District Council/Eastbourne Borough Council saw a 181% increase, followed by Fareham (75%) and Blackpool (55%).

The Orkneys experienced a 161% increase in the cost of clearing up fly-tipping between 2020 and 2021, while Ashfield District Council saw a 133% increase in the same 12 months.

In 2021, councils had to deal with an average of 300 incidents of fly-tipping, over and above those reported by the public.

Whilst we saw the damage done by fly-tipping during the first lockdowns in 2020, with many wild camping areas, beauty spots, nature reserves and beaches across the UK left looking more like landfill sites, there’s little evidence that we fared any better in 2021.

With councils reporting incidences of fly-tipping across up until the end of October on average, the FOI data shows us that councils are continuing to deal with thousands of fly-tipping incidents (on average 3470 each).

And this is most stark in London, with the London Boroughs of Newham, Lewisham, Hounslow and Haringey all dealing with over 20,000 incidents of fly-tipping before the end of 2021. Outside London, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Southampton and Manchester have each dealt with over 10,000 incidents in 2021.

In 2021, the UK’s worst fly-tipping hot-spots based on incidents in council jurisdictions (not reported by the public) are:

1) London Borough of Newham – 28,297

2) London Borough of Lewisham – 27,324

3) London Borough of Hounslow – 24,363

4) London Borough of Haringey – 21,950

5) City of Edinburgh – 12,626

6) Nottingham City Council – 11,797

7) Manchester City Council – 10,937

8) Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – 10,724

9) Southampton Council – 10,075

10) Bristol Council – 9,885

Mark Ward, TOG24’s Managing Director said “We wanted to understand how big an impact fly-tipping is having in the UK and on people’s enjoyment of our beautiful countryside. We looked at the data for the last five years previously, and it’s something we’ve continued to notice when we’ve been out and about across the UK. We love the British countryside and are really keen for everyone else to love it as much as we do, but it’s hard when there’s rubbish strewn everywhere.

“As well as the impact on the countryside, there’s also the financial aspect in terms of the costs to local authorities. As has been seen from the research carried out amongst local authorities around the UK these are significant costs at a time when councils face a lot of other challenges. This money could be better spent elsewhere, such as helping people get more access to the countryside which has proven benefits on mental and physical health and wellbeing.”

Martin Montague, the founder of ClearWaste.com, a free app and website that enables users to easily report fly-tipping, as well as access legitimate waste disposal providers anywhere in the UK, said: “Fly-tipping is a huge blight on the UK countryside. Fly-tipped rubbish poses environmental and health risks to people and wildlife, as well as ruining the beauty of rural areas – and that’s why I created the app.

“As well as making reporting easier and helping people find licensed rubbish removal services, in terms of combating the scourge of fly-tipping, we also advocate much bigger fines and custodial sentences for those who persistently fly-tip. Every report we get provides valuable information and helps in the battle against fly-tippers.”

Dumping rubbish on private land also has severe environmental and financial impacts with landowners being left to pick up the costs of clearance. Where large amounts have been fly-tipped, these costs can be considerable.