Home improvers drive surge in fly-tipping
Fines rise by 244pc in a year as households fail to check contractors’ waste management processes
DIY enthusiasts have fuelled a huge rise in fines for fly-tipping, data show.
Fines against households for failing to ensure their waste is not fly-tipped by contractors have surged 244 per cent in the past year, from 1,705 in 2021 to 5,875 in 2022, according to data from the environment department.
Households can be fined £400 if they fail to carry out a series of checks and are found to have used a disposal service that then fly-tips their rubbish, under powers introduced in 2019.
The increase came despite a drop in the number of offences i nvolving household waste in the same period, from 740,000 incidents to 671,000.
Although some of that increase can be attributed to the impact of lockdown in 2021, the latest fines are also more than twice the 2,500 handed out from March 2019-2020.
Emma Tattersdill, an environmental partner with the law firm Bexley Beaumont, said many householders didn’t know they had a responsibility to ensure contractors comply with waste management laws.
“The rise in the number of householders penalised is staggering, yet not all of those handed fines will have been deliberate offenders,” she said.
“Very few homeowners will know that they have a duty of care to check that anyone removing an old kitchen, bathroom fittings or furniture is properly licensed to do so.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, householders have a duty of care to avoid inadvertently contributing to fly-tipping.
They must take “reasonable steps” to ensure that anyone disposing of their household waste is fully licensed by the Environment Agency and will handle and dispose of the waste without breaking the law.
This includes checking the registration number of any waste service against the Environment Agency’s public database. In one case Ms Tattersdill dealt with, a woman was given fake registration details by a contractor paid to remove kitchen cupboards, who then dumped them illegally.
She was then threatened with prosecution after her personal information was found in one of the kitchen drawers which had been fly-tipped.
Penalty notices carry a maximum sanction of £400, whereas prosecution could lead to an unlimited fine.
Ms Tattersdill said that while previously, local authorities could only issue warning letters or prosecute offenders, fixed penalty notices have “broadened the scope of their powers”.
A Defra spokesman said: “We want to ensure that recycling and the correct disposal of rubbish is easy and accessible for households – ensuring they are not tempted to dump waste or turn to waste criminals.
“To ensure households do the right thing, we have consulted on proposals that would see Diyers not being charged for getting rid of waste, and encourage them to check their local authority’s guidance which sets out how to properly dispose of waste.”