Flytipping is the removal of waste from premises with the deliberate aim of dumping it unlawfully on land. The offence of flytipping is enforceable by the Environment Agency, local authorities like ourselves and the Police with penalties that can include an unlimited fine and a prison sentence.

Everyone who produces waste has a legal duty of care to ensure it is disposed of properly. A person or business may be guilty of a flytipping offence if their waste is found to have been dumped, even if the dumping was carried out by someone else. 

If you employ someone to take your waste away, always check they have a proper waste carriers licence and take their name, address and vehicle details. Failing to do so could result in you being prosecuted if your waste is fly-tipped.

The registered keeper of a vehicle could also be prosecuted if their vehicle is used during a flytipping offence and the vehicle seized.

Information and contact details to arrange a bulky waste collection by our officers is available on our Bulky Waste pages. 

Slytipping

There are many activities that people or businesses carry out without realising it is actually flytipping, we call this slytipping and it includes:

• presenting additional waste, known as side waste, next to your usual black bin collection (unless we advise in advance that it will be permitted as an exception)
• early or late presentation of black bins or recycling
• dumping waste in someone else's bin
• dumping domestic or trade waste in public litter bins
• dumping trade waste as domestic waste – information about the service we provide for trade waste collections can be found on our Commercial Waste and Recycling pages
• dumping waste in a collection point that is not your own

It is activities like these where individuals and businesses try to dispose of their waste by ‘hiding it in plain sight’. Too many people think these activities are acceptable and they don’t like it when we tell them it is flytipping. Perhaps they don’t like to think of themselves as criminals. We are trying to raise awareness so people are able to see the “slytipping” for exactly what it is and do the right thing.

If you’re unsure - 'challenge it, report it, change it’

Top tips to combat flytipping

• report tipping when you see it
• report suspicious or illegal activity
• always ask your builder or waste carrier for their licence and check out their company registration on the Environment Agency website
• look online at what a permit looks like
• ask for a waste transfer note when someone disposes of your waste
• photograph the material they take and the vehicle they use
• make sure you know the name, business address and contact details and any company you pay to dispose of your waste
• if you see someone suspicious 'helping' your neighbour, do something
• protect your own property from tippers