The fight against fly-tipping and illegal waste in England is being hampered by a lack of data and landfill taxes, an official investigation has found.
The UK Government does not have the data it needs to assess the scale of waste crime in England - and the incentives for criminals to enter the waste market have increased - according to the National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO report published today April 27, finds:
- The number of active illegal waste sites in England known to the Agency has reduced from 685 in 2018-19 to 470 in 2020-21 . However, travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in fewer cases being identified.
- The number of fly-tipping incidents reported by local authorities has risen most years since 2012-13 and reached 1.13 million in 2020-21 – at a cost of £11.6 million to clear large-scale incidents. Most incidents involved household waste, and the most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways.
- Based on a 2015 estimate, the Agency believes that there is widespread abuse of exemptions from environmental permits for certain waste operations.
- The Agency does not know the scale of the illegal export of waste that may cause serious harm in the countries it is sent to. Since 2013-14, the number of containers intercepted and found to contain waste being exported illegally has varied between 200 and 500 containers per year.
