Key Statistics


  • For the 2021/22 year, local authorities in England dealt with 1.09 million fly-tipping incidents, a decrease of 4% from the 1.14 million reported in 2020/21. 
  • The percentage of fly-tips involving household waste has fallen from 65% to 61% in 2021/22. Total incidents involving household waste were 671,000 in 2021/22, a decrease of 9% from 740,000 incidents in 2020/21. 
  • 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 same as in 2019/20 and 2020/21. In 2021/22, the number of highway incidents was 464,000, which was a decrease of 5% from 486,000 in 2020/21. 
  • The most common size category for fly-tipping incidents in 2021/22 was equivalent to a ‘small van load’ (32% of total incidents), followed by the equivalent of a ‘car boot or less’ (26%). 
  • In 2021/22, 37,000 or around 4% of total incidents were of ‘tipper lorry load’ size or larger, which is a decrease of 3% from 38,000 in 2020/21. For these large fly-tipping incidents, the cost of clearance to local authorities in England in 2021/22 was £10.7 million, compared with £11.6 million in 2020/21. 
  • Local authorities carried out 507,000 enforcement actions in 2021/22, an increase of 52,000 actions (11%) from 455,000 in 2020/21. 
  • The number of fixed penalty notices issued was 91,000 in 2021/22, an increase of 58% from 57,700 in 2020/21. This is the second most common action after investigations and accounted for 18% of all actions in 2021/22. 
  • The number of court fines issued nearly tripled from 621 in 2020/21 to 1,798 in 2021/22 (190%), with the value of total fines more than doubling from £330,000 in 2020/21 to £840,000 in 2021/22 (154%).
  • Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england

Photograph courtesy of Keep Britain Tidy