This is the second consecutive year that the overall number has fallen, following a a 4% fall between 2020/21 and 2021/22 (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, the numbers still remain significantly above pre-pandemic figures. Defra reported a 16% rise in incidents between 2019/20 and 2020/21, which pushed the figure above 1 million (see letsrecycle.com story).
This morning’s statistics for 2022/23 show that 60% of fly-tips involved household waste. Total incidents involving household waste were 653,000 in 2022/23, a decrease of 3% from 671,000 incidents in 2021/22.
The statistics also show that local authorities carried out 536,000 enforcement actions in 2022/23, an increase of 29,000 actions (6%) from 507,000 in 2021/22.
Significant points within the data include:
- The most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways (pavements and roads), which accounted for over two fifths (43%) of total incidents in 2021/22
- The most common size category for fly-tipping incidents in 2022/2023 was equivalent to a ‘small van load’
- In 2022/23 there were on average 19 fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 people in England
- London had the highest average number of incidents per 1,000 people at 48, while the South West had the lowest at 9 incidents per 1,000 people
- The least number of incidents per 1,000 people are in the south west of England
Enforcement
Defra reports that local authorities carried out 536,000 enforcement actions enforcement actions in 2022/23, an increase of 6% on the previous year. This follows on from an 11% jump the previous year, too.
However, this was largely made up of an increase in ‘warning letters’.
The issuing of penalty notices had decreased by 9% to 73,000 and is the second most common action after investigations and accounted for 14% of all actions in 2022/23. And the number of court fines also decreased from 1,798 in 2021/22 to 1,491 in 2022/23.
London emerged as the frontrunner in the issuance of Fixed Penalty Notices, with Wandsworth leading the charge by issuing 5,236 FPNs throughout the year—marking the highest count among all local authorities.
The average court fine also saw an increase, climbing from £466 in 2021/22 to £526 in 2022/23. However, despite this increase, the combined value of fines experienced a 6% reduction, falling from £837,000 to £785,000.
There were 43 local authorities in 2022/23 which did not report issuing any FPNs, 17 local authorities issued 1 and 7 local authorities issued 2.
There were 22 local authorities who reported issuing more than 1,000 FPNs in 2022/23.
Household
The majority of fly-tipping incidents are household waste, which in 2022/23 accounted for 60% of all incidents, down 1% from the previous year.
Household waste could include material from house or shed clearances, old furniture, carpets and the waste from small scale DIY works. Other waste was largely commercial waste and could include pallets, cardboard boxes, plastics, foam and any other waste not contained in bags or containers and not due to be collected.
Useful link
The full Defra report can be seen here.
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