Fly-tipping should be treated like ‘organised crime, says Minister

FLY-TIPPING NEEDS to be treated with the same level of seriousness as the narcotics industry, an Environment Minister has said.

Speaking during environment questions in the Commons, independent MP Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) pressed the Government on the need for fly-tipping to be treated as “organised crime”.

She said: “Fly-tipping is a blight across the UK, both in rural and other areas. What recent assessment has the Minister made of the need for fly-tipping to be treated as organised crime so that investigations are properly resourced?”

Environment Minister Jo Churchill noted she could not say any more than “it was described as similar to the narcotics industry”, adding: “We need to treat it with that much seriousness, we need to crack down, we need to make sure that we hound the people out who are earning illegally and blighting others’ lives.”

On what the Government is doing to reduce waste, the Minister said: “Criminals should have no place to hide when they mindlessly dump waste. Fly-tipping blights lives and neighbourhoods and wrecks our environment. We are consulting on legislative reforms to the way waste handlers are regulated, and introducing digital waste tracking.”

Fly-tipping was not the only issue raised in the chamber, with food insecurity being one of the other main topics discussed by MPs. Labour’s Geraint Davies warned the number of people facing food insecurity could reach 10m “unless something is done”, and called for the Government to consider putting “the right to food into law”.