Defra consults on council fly-tipping powers

If approved, the proposals would give local authorities the power to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to householders who are found to have failed in their duty of care to ensure that waste is not illegally dumped.

Householders already have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to ensure their waste is passed to an authorised person, Defra said. However, currently the only option for the regulator (usually the local authority) to address breaches of the duty of care is to take the offender to court.

The proposed FPN is intended to be mainly used:

• Where fly-tipped waste can be traced back to a householder who is found to have failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that they transferred the waste to an authorised person.

• Where an unauthorised carrier is found to be carrying waste that was directly transferred to them by a householder.

• Where a householder is found to be transferring their waste to an unauthorised person at a site that does not have a permit or exemption.

If a decision is taken to introduce a FPN for breaches of this Duty of Care, Defra is proposing to issue non-statutory guidance to local authorities on how the FPN should be used.

Defra will also update existing guidance in the waste Duty of Care Code of Practice, which sets out the waste duty of care requirements for householders, to provide greater detail on how to meet the duty of care.

This guidance is being consulted on ahead of a final decision being taken on the proposed FPN, in order to allow for time for introduction if approved.

At the start of 2018 the Defra and the Welsh Government published a consultation on proposals to tackle crime and poor performance in the waste sector and introduce a new FPN for the householder waste Duty of Care (see letsrecycle.com story).

Defra has published a summary of responses to that consultation, alongside the launch of this latest consultation. A full Government response is expected later this year.

The announcement follows a call from the Environment Agency yesterday for householders to avoid illegal waste operators by taking extra care when disposing of waste (see letsrecycle.com story). The Agency also revealed that over a third of illegally dumped waste is from households.

Related links
Consultation