Fly-Tipping

The underlying offence is set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990: it prohibits a person from causing or knowingly permitting controlled waste 'to be deposited in or on any land' unless a permit 'authorising the deposit is in force and the deposit is in accordance with the licence.' Breach is a criminal offence: 'A person who contravenes subsection (1) above' commits an offence — though it is 'a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove' 'that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.' The Act also catches fly-tipping from a vehicle specifically: where waste 'is carried in and deposited from a motor vehicle, the person who controls or is in a position to control the use of the vehicle shall ... be treated as knowingly causing the waste to be deposited whether or not he gave any instructions for this to be done.'

In practice, who to report fly-tipping to depends on its scale. Government guidance distinguishes: 'Fly-tipping is illegal dumping of household, commercial or industrial waste on a small scale, for example: several bin bags of rubbish; 1 or 2 pieces of furniture; small commercial waste loads', and for that scale, 'To report fly-tipping in England, Scotland or Wales, contact the environmental health team at your local council.' Larger or organised dumping is handled differently — 'Dumping on a larger scale may be on private land or in a remote area. It can include: a lorryload (20 tonnes) or more of tipped or buried rubbish; hazardous or industrial waste; organised criminal waste operations', and 'To report large-scale waste dumping, call the Environment Agency', which runs a '24-hour service'.