Is fly-tipping illegal?
FLY-TIPPING is costing the UK £1billion a year it's been revealed.
Here are the rules surrounding the illegal dumping grounds.
Is fly-tipping illegal?
Fly-tipping is a serious criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted.
The courts have various powers available to them to tackle fly-tipping, including imprisonment, unlimited fines and an order to deprive rights to a vehicle used to commit the offence.
Fly-tipping is defined as the "illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it".
Tipping a mattress, electrical items or a bin bag full of rubbish in the street causes a local nuisance and makes an area look ugly and run down.
At the larger end of the scale fly-tipping can involve several truckloads of construction and demolition waste being tipped on different types of land.
Uncontrolled illegal waste disposal can be hazardous to the public, especially if it contains toxic material or asbestos.
There could be a risk of damage to watercourses and soil quality from the dumped waste.
Yearly, more than one million incidences of fly-tipping were dealt with by councils in England.
The annual 34 million tons of junk left littering the streets and countryside would fill 30 Wembley Stadiums to the rafters.
And it's costing the economy £1billion a year — 55 per cent more than in 2015.
Organised crime gangs and repeat offenders are behind the devastating mess, an Environment Agency report shows.
A backlog in court cases was seen as a driver behind the surge in illegal dumping.
How much can you get fined for fly-tipping?
A fly-tipper can be fined of up to £50,000 – or even more if the case goes to the Crown Court, an offender can even be sent to prison.
Councils can take action against people suspected or caught fly-tipping, including seizing any vehicle suspected in dumping waste in a way that cause pollution to the environment, prosecution, which can result in a criminal record if found guilty by the courts.
You could be fined by the local authority up to £400 and you could be made to pay clear up costs
Where can I report fly-tipping?
If you report it, the rubbish can be removed and with your help the crime can be investigated. If you see someone fly-tipping, or you want to report an area where fly-tipping has taken place.
Take note of the date, time and place of the incident, what the waste looks like and how much there is as well as descriptions of any person and/or vehicles involved along with the registration number.
Both the local authority and the Environment Agency have powers to tackle fly-tipping and they have agreed a fly-tipping protocol to address the important issues associated with the problem. The protocol sets out who will deal with different types of incidents.
Local Authorities will deal will smaller scale, more frequent incidents and the Environment Agency will deal with larger scale, more serious incidents of illegal waste disposal, or fly-tipping including hazardous wastes and tipping carried out by organised criminals.
Reports to the Environment Agency can be made using their national hotline number 0800 807 060.
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