Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste. It can cause pollution to land and waterway. It also costs significant amounts of council tax payer’s money to clear away.

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. This includes:

• imprisonment
• unlimited fines
• an order to deprive you rights to a vehicle used to commit the offence

It can carry a maximum fine of £50,000 or even more if the case goes to Crown Court, and a prison sentence of up to five years.

If you witness fly-tipping, please report it to us.

Please let us know:

1. the time/date of the incident
2. a description of person(s) involved
3. a description of vehicles involved (registration/colour/make/model)
4. a description of the waste that’s been left
5. please take photos, if you can

We try to clear up fly-tipping within two working days of being made aware of it. Where possible we prosecute those responsible, but it may take longer to clear the site while we gather evidence.

Landowner permits

If a landowner wants to store waste on their land they need to apply for the relevant permit from the Environment Agency. 

All householders have a duty of care to make sure their waste is disposed of legally. 

You must make sure any waste you have collected from your home (apart from your kerbside recycling and waste collections) is legally disposed of. This includes any waste that tradespeople (including gardeners) generate as part of any work you have carried out on your property.

To do this you need to:

1. check the waste collector has an up-to-date waste carriers licence (higher tier) or if they are exempt (charities)
2. ask for waste transfer notes for all waste that they collect from your property

If the waste collector can’t produce either of these documents, they may be illegally disposing of your waste. If found illegally dumped, you may be prosecuted.

Remember SCRAP:

• Suspect – if it doesn’t look right it probably isn’t!
• Check – ask them for their waste carriers licence number issued by the Environment Agency
• Refuse – say no to unsolicited offers
• Ask – question where they will take your waste
• Paperwork – make sure you get a waste transfer note giving a description of waste and where it will be taken.

Commercial waste collectors should not use our household kerbside collection or recycling centres to dispose of your waste.

Any tradesperson who carries out work on your property should dispose of the waste through a commercial service. If they leave the waste for you to dispose of, you must also do them same.

Individuals or businesses who collect waste as part of their commercial activity need to register with the Environment Agency (EA) for a higher tier waste carriers licence.

if asked for by the local authority or the EA, you also need to be able to produce waste transfer notes (WTNs) for all waste collected in the past two years.

A WTN template is available via the GOV.UK website.

A copy of the WTN should be provided to the individual or business that produced the waste, including if this is a householder.

Waste collected should not be taken to our recycling centres under any circumstances.

All businesses have duty of care to ensure that any waste produced through their commercial activities is disposed of legally.

A business must have a business waste agreement with a legal waste collector and be able to produce waste transfer notes for waste collected. If this is not in place, you may be fined and/or prosecuted.

We run a reliable, flexible and cost effective commercial waste service. We collect from as little as one bag a month to as much as several bulk bins multiple times a week.

If you would like a quote for this service, or need some advice, contact us via email.