The illegal disposal of waste in the environment can have a very serious impact on land, with chemicals in the waste which could contaminate soil and potentially harm local wildlife and businesses. With this in mind, online furniture retailer, Furniture Choice polled the nation to find out how many Brits have illegally dumped waste in the past and how local councils are tackling the issue ahead of World Environment Day (today, 5th June).
The research revealed that 13% of the nation has fly-tipped in the past, with over a quarter stating they didn’t realise they were breaking the law. With new financial penalties put in place in January 2019, any householder who now fails to pass their waste to a licensed carrier and whose waste is found fly-tipped would face penalties of up to £400*.
Recent government data revealed that local authorities in England dealt with just under one million (998,000) fly-tipping incidents between 2017/18, a slight decrease of 1% from 2016/17[1]. However, local authorities have seen an increase of 20% in the number of fixed penalty notices handed out to fly-tipping offenders, with 69,000 handed out in 2017/18[1].
Delving further into the issue of fly-tipping across England, the top ten locations in England with the highest number of fly-tipping incidents in 2017/18[2] were:
1. Leeds - 26,831 2. Haringey - 23,549 3. Liverpool - 20,576 4. Croydon - 19,198 5. Hammersmith and Fulham - 18,652 6. Brent - 18,609 7. Northampton - 18,393 8. Manchester - 17,497 9. Hounslow - 17,063 10. Birmingham - 15,993
Furniture Choice also spoke to the British public to find out how they think councils are faring with the issue of fly-tipping. The results revealed that Brits think councils should provide easier alternatives to fly-tipping (39%) and increase the awareness of fly-tipping laws (38%).
To help reduce fly-tipping across the UK, Furniture Choice has created an online tool populated with more than 800 furniture recycling and donation centres across the UK, which helps people identify their nearest location in which to take their unwanted furniture and white goods.
Tom Obbard, Director at Furniture Choice, said: “Fly-tipping causes a devastating impact on the environment and is expensive to clear, so it is a major concern that incidents are increasing in England.
“It is great to see that some councils are exercising their legislative powers and issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, as hopefully, it will deter people from committing the offence. However, more needs to be done on encouraging people to use recycling and donation sites instead of illegally discarding their waste.”
