The National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) and Future Countryside are calling for action after figures show that local authorities in England dealt with more than 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents in 2024-25.
That is a 9% increase on the previous year, although both organisations believe this doesn’t represent the true picture. The report concludes that the true scale of the problem is far greater because incidents on private land, large-scale illegal dumping handled by the Environment Agency and many unreported cases are excluded from the national data.
According to the report, only 31% of incidents are investigated, with over half of those investigations resulting in no further action. A Countryside Alliance Rural Crime Survey revealed that fly-tipping is the most prevalent rural crime, accounting for 44% of all reported rural offences. Across England in 2024-25, there were just 13 custodial sentences for fly-tipping offences.
The total economic cost of fly-tipping was estimated at £391.9 million. The NRCN says fly-tipping is no longer simply a matter of illegally dumped mattresses and bin bags. Organised criminal networks are running waste operations on an industrial scale.
The report calls for:
- A comprehensive national dataset capturing the true scale of waste crime
- A single clearly understood reporting route for all incidents
- Stronger regulation of waste carriers and brokers; improved intelligence-sharing and enforcement coordination between agencies
- Sustained action against organised criminal networks
- An end to victims being left to bear the costs of crime committed against them
To access the full report, please visit: https://www.futurecountryside.org/hubfs/FINAL%20NRCN%20Future%20Countryside%20Fly%20Tipping%20Report.pdf
