More people are starting to fly-tip across the country and it’s having a detrimental impact on the environment. For those who have seen their land become a site for fly tipping, farm estate insurance providers Lycetts has prepared this guide on what you can do, as well as steps which can be taken to reduce the chance of it occurring in the first place:

Fly-tipping: what is it and what are the most common types of waste?

Fly-tipping is illegally disposing of waste on land that does not have the appropriate licence to hold it. However, the most common types of waste that pop up around the country are:

• Construction waste.
• Tyres.
• Mattresses.

How frequent is fly-tipping?

Fly-tipping across Britain is at a crisis level, according to the CEO of Keep Britain Tidy, Allison Ogden-Newton — her comment came after a freedom of information request by ITV News highlighted the problematic issue in the country.

The Daily Telegraph has reported on the topic and found that fly-tipping incidents grew over a fifth each year within council regions. For example, almost 40,000 reported incidents were recorded in the North London district of Haringey between November 2015 and December 2016, with more than 30,000 incidents also reported in Manchester over the same period.

There are places where fly-tipping seems to be reducing, but it’s still a big problem that is hard to isolate completely. In Birmingham, for instance, the number of fly-tipping cases are down by 13 per cent between November 2015 and December 2016. However, the figure during this period was still recorded at 21,000 offences.

"Fly-tipping is an epidemic, it's reached crisis levels and something needs to be done about it. Local authorities are overwhelmed with instances of criminal fly-tipping and we need to address this urgently,"

commented Ms Ogden-Newton.

It was also discovered by James Cuthbertson, a Lycetts account executive, that fly-tipping is just as big as a problem in Scotland. Near to 61,000 fly-tipping incidents are recorded in this country every single year, Mr Cuthbertson has found.

He commented:

“The culprits tend to think of this practice as a victimless crime; but estimates put the cost to Scottish tax payers at £8.9 million a year to clear and dispose of tipped rubbish from council land. Farmers and other countryside custodians must meet the cost of clearing rubbish from private land themselves, at an average of £1,000 a time.”

Penalties faced by fly-tippers

Efforts are at least being made to try and deter people from fly-tipping.

According to figures obtained from the BBC, a total of 1,602 prosecutions for fly-tipping were carried out across England between 2016 and 2017. What’s more, 98 per cent of prosecutions made resulted in a conviction. During the same time period, councils across England served 56,000 fixed penalty notices in regards to cases of fly-tipping.

Penalties for fly-tipping

In the eyes of the court, fly-tipping is a serious offence that has a huge impact on the environment and can lead to a fine (unlimited price scale) and up to five years imprisonment.

Landowners who allow fly-tipping to happen are committing fly-tipping offences too — whether this is for their own personal use or enabling others to take advantage of their space.

“Fines of up to £40,000 can be imposed but, given budgetary constraints, the pursuit of fly tippers is well down the list of priorities of councils and the police. Furthermore, it is hard to gather evidence to bring a successful prosecution,”

commented Mr Cuthbertson.

A guide for fly-tipping targets

If you find that someone has fly-tipped on your land, you ultimately become responsible for the rubbish on your site.

However, if you do find such waste on your land, you must be cautious — it could be hazardous. Therefore, bags and drums should not be opened and piles of soil should be a cause for alarm bells as the material could be contaminated or hiding dangerous material.

It’s important that you create a document that holds all details about your find. This includes where you located the waste, as well as taking photographs if possible. After all details have been recorded, report the case of fly-tipping to your local authority:

• Those in England and Wales should head to www.gov.uk/report-flytipping and report fly-tipping by first entering the postcode where the waste has been discovered.
• Those in Scotland should report fly-tipping waste by either filling in a simple online form on DumbDumpers.org or contacting Stopline directly by calling 0845 2 30 40 90.
• Those in Northern Ireland should head to nidirect.gov.uk and find details for their local council, who will be able to advise on the waste disposal sites and recycling centres based nearby for the safe and legal recycling or disposal of unwanted items.

Once fly-tipping waste has been reported, look to secure the waste so that it is unable to be interfered with or added to.

However, once your waste is being collected, you must follow the following steps:

First and foremost, do not take the waste to a licensed site yourself unless you’re registered as a waste carrier. If hazardous waste has been identified, it should only be carried and then disposed of by someone who is licensed to deal with hazardous waste.

Keep in mind the costs of waste removal, as well as the organisation you’re using to dispose of your finding, as this will help you reclaim any costs you spent when a successful prosecution goes ahead.

Mr Cuthbertson adds:

“In the event you wake one morning to find the midnight cowboys have paid you a visit, if the problem is severe, it is worth consulting with your insurance broker. Most farm combined policies will cover the cost of removal and disposal, less an excess. In the event of a major fly tipping incident, you could be very glad the cover is in place.”

If you come across criminals fly-tipping on your land — stay safe. As the practice is illegal, people are unlikely to take kindly to their crime being observed. Do not confront the guilty parties, but instead immediately call 999 and then make a note the number of people involved, descriptions of their appearances, details about the waste being fly-tipped and information about any vehicles used — this includes the makes of the vehicles, their colours and their registration numbers if you can make it out.

Becoming a risk-free landowner

To remove your land from the list of potential fly-tipping locations, there are a few steps you can take.

There are multiple ways that you can protect your land from becoming a go-to spot for fly-tippers, and they’re all pretty simple. Install gates that will put your land on lockdown when you’re offsite, or place boulders on pathways which could be a potential entry point for any vehicles carrying waste.

If there is a risk that fly-tippers will get caught dumping on your land — they likely won’t do it. Therefore, work on improving visibility all around your property and its land, make sure high-quality exterior lighting is installed and in working condition, and set up CCTV cameras and appropriate signs alerting people of the technology’s presence.

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