Fly-tipping

'Fly-tipping' is illegally dumped rubbish.

It's dangerous, unsightly and attracts rats, mice and other pests. It also costs thousands of pounds to clear away.

Lay-bys, country lanes, and roadsides are hot spots for fly-tipping. The most common items to be dumped are:

builders' rubbish and tyres
household and garden rubbish
large items such as furniture, fridges and cookers

These types of problems are not 'fly-tipping':

Report fly-tipping

If you see someone dumping waste don't approach them, and don't put yourself at risk.

Make a note of the date, time and location. Details of vehicles, registration numbers, and descriptions of the people doing it are also helpful. Report the fly-tipping to us as soon as you can.

Photos can help us with our enquiries - but don't take photos if you feel it isn't safe. Please don't remove any physical evidence from the site of the fly-tipping.

Report fly-tipping

Protecting your privacy - find out how we keep your information safe.

Who cleans up fly-tipping?

We clear away dumped rubbish on roadsides, on pavements and on public land.

Landowners are responsible for removing fly tipping from their own private land - we can provide a quote for clearing it. We also offer advice on how to help prevent fly-tipping on private land.

Investigations and prosecution

Where there is evidence our enforcement officers will investigate and take action against people responsible for fly-tipping. We also work with our neighbouring councils to take action where offences cross local boundaries.

Fly-tippers can be prosecuted.

They can be required to pay the full clean-up costs plus a fine of up to £50,000 and up to five years imprisonment. They could also lose their driving licence.

We can also issue fixed penalty notices of £700 to anyone found fly-tipping.

Dispose of your waste legally

There are no shortcuts when it comes to waste, and there are many options for you to dispose of your waste safely and legally:

use your household wheelie bins for general waste, recycling or garden waste
take excess household rubbish to the household waste recycling centre for free
if you can't get rid of your rubbish yourself, we offer a bulky waste collection service

Householders have a legal duty of care to make sure that their waste is disposed of lawfully.

If someone offers to take your waste away without offering you waste transfer papers, or if they don't show you their waste carrier's licence, then it is likely that your waste will end up being fly-tipped.

If someone fly-tips your waste you could be given a £350 fixed penalty notice - even though you didn't fly-tip it yourself.

This could also affect you if you have hired people to carry out work on your home, such as builders or gardeners - if the waste they take away from your home is fly-tipped, you could be fined.

Find out more about about the householder's duty of care.