According to statistics released by the government for the 2021/22 year, local authorities in England dealt with 1.09 million fly-tipping incidents, a decrease of 4% from the 1.14 million reported in 2020/21.
The government has published today (31 January) statistics on fly-tipping incidents recorded by Local Authorities in England, for April 2021 to March 2022.
This data is based on incidents and actions reported through WasteDataFlow. The government says the intention is to capture all fly-tipping incidents, whether reported by staff or customers, and enforcement actions taken by local authorities in response.
The government says that local authorities gather their data from several different sources and there is a level of discretion in applying the reporting guidance. It continues that this can lead to some differences in how local authorities record incidents, which the government says means changes in data collection and reporting over time mean that trends should be “interpreted with caution”.
Headline fly-tipping statistics
Key points from the data include the percentage of fly-tips involving household waste has fallen from 65% to 61% in 2021/22. Total incidents involving household waste were 671,000 in 2021/22, a decrease of 9% from 740,000 incidents in 2020/21.
The percentage of fly tips involving household waste fell from 65% to 61% in 2021/22. Total incidents involving household waste were 671,000 in 2021/22, a decrease of 9% from 740,000 incidents in 2020/21.
The most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways (pavements and roads), which accounted for 43% of total incidents in 2021/22, the same as in 2019/20 and 2020/21. In 2021/22, the number of highway incidents was 464,000, which was a decrease of 5% from 486,000 in 2020/21.
The most common size category for fly-tipping incidents in 2021/221 was equivalent to a “small van load” (32% of total incidents), followed by the equivalent of a “car boot or less” (26%).
In 2021/22, 37,000 or around 4% of total incidents were of “tipper lorry load” size or larger, which is a decrease of 3% from 38,000 in 2020/21. For these large fly-tipping incidents, the cost of clearance to local authorities in England in 2021/22 was £10.7 million, compared with £11.6 million in 2020/21.
Local authorities carried out 507,000 enforcement actions in 2021/22, an increase of 52,000 actions (11%) from 455,000 in 2020/21.
The number of fixed penalty notices issued was 91,000 in 2021/22, an increase of 58% from 57,700 in 2020/21. This was the second most common action after investigations and accounted for 18% of all actions in 2021/22.
The number of court fines issued nearly tripled from 621 in 2020/21 to 1,798 in 2021/22 (190%), with the value of total fines more than doubling from £330,000 in 2020/21 to £840,000 in 2021/22 (154%).
