The UK’s Litter Endemic – Fly Tipping

New research suggests that fly-tipping has seen a slight decline over the past year, but is still a major problem facing us today.

Recorded by the local authorities in England, figures show 1.09 million incidents recorded in the year 2021/2022 compared to 1.14 million in the year 2020 – 2021. This was a decrease of 4%.

With fines getting heavier, local authorities continue to stamp down, carrying out 507,000 enforcement actions which is an increase of 11% from the year before.

What is fly tipping and how does it affect us?
Fly-tipping is defined as the unlawful dumping of waste. It could vary in scale from a small black bag of waste to a full truck load. It can come in the form of solid or liquids, having its own devastating affect on the environment.

For the majority of cases, it comes down to either laziness, the thought that someone else will deal with it or maybe the rising costs of waste disposal centres. It all has the same result for the perpetrators, and that’s financial gain/saving.

This costs the taxpayers around £392 million a year. Environment minister, Jo Churchill, said “I want to make sure that recycling and the correct disposal of rubbish is free, accessible and easy for householders. No one should be tempted to fly tip or turn to waste criminals and rogue operators. Furthermore, the funding that we have announced for Local Authorities today will help them trial innovative new projects to put a stop to fly tipping. We will learn from the successes – and replicate them.”

Fly tipping, a form of pollution, threatens humans and wildlife, as well as the environment. It becomes an eye sore and ruins the enjoyment factor of our cities and countryside’s.

Another negative factor is that in areas where fly-tipping is common, it may result in declining house prices, having an adverse effect on the local companies and organisations due to less people moving into the area. It causes an extended chain reaction, eventually resulting in low economy expenditure and stunting any potential growth.

What actions are being taken to prevent fly-tipping?
Many environmental agencies, local councils and environmental activists have various ways of preventing fly-tipping, ranging from heavy fines to public campaigns.

From April 2022, the government has introduced a £450,000 funding to assist in the enforcement of the laws on fly-tipping. Some examples are;
– Overt and covert CCTV will be placed at hotspot locations to crack down on illegal waste tipping.
– Buckinghamshire Council to deploy Rapid Deployable Cameras (RDC) with integrated Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras (ANPR) directly linking a vehicle to a person for the police to investigate. Depending on results, we could see an expansion of this project to surrounding areas.
– Education / Advertisements will outline the negative impacts such actions would have,
acting as a deterrent.
– Expansion of paper bags production and charges on plastic bags. This allows easy disposal of
bags and less focus on the usage of plastic ones. People are more likely to reuse, rather than
throw away.

Here at the Nu Group, we are committed to a cleaner planet.

Our Chemicals
All products from our NTRL range use raw materials that are derived from plant based extracts that are less harmful to human health and the environment. Products that are vegan friendly and have not been tested on animals.

Recycling
At Nu Group we ensure that nothing goes to waste. That is why all disposed of glass at our events and venues is 100% recycled. What’s more, Nu Group are able to tailor bespoke recycling packages to ensure all obligations of events, venues and contracted sites are met.