Following a recent change in legislation, councils in London have been increasing their maximum fixed penalty fines for fly tipping. However, analysis by LoveJunk.com reveals these increases are unlikely to have any impact as only 1 in 100 fly tipping incidents results in a council fine that gets paid.
According to the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs, London councils suffered a total of 422,078 fly tipping incidents in 2023. To help reduce this illegal dumping, the Government recently changed the maximum on-the-spot fine that a council could set for fly tipping offences from £400 to £1000. As a result, many London councils have been announcing a shift to the new maximum.
However, analysis of DEFRA’s data by rubbish removal marketplace LoveJunk suggests these increases will have little effect. LoveJunk found that in 2023 local authorities in London issued a total of 44,106 fly tipping FPNs, which was equivalent to 10% of all fly tip incidents. And just 13% of those FPNs were ever paid. In other words, only 1% of fly tips resulted in a fine that was paid.
“Tracking down offenders and then enforcing payment is challenging and expensive. So, increasing the maximum penalty by a few hundred pounds is unlikely to change anything,” says LoveJunk’s founder, Jason Mohr.
“The simplest way to reduce fly tipping is to stop giving rubbish to fly tippers. And the easiest way to do that, is for people to only use a licensed waste carrier and never pay for the service with cash. Ensuring a waste collector is registered with the Environment Agency and paying for your collection by card means there is a clear money trail to a registered entity. This makes it almost impossible for illegal operators to remain anonymous and without anonymity fly tippers cannot survive.”
Fly Tipping Fixed Penalty Notice Fines for London in 2023
| Local authority
|
Fly tip incidents | FPNs issued | Issued
% |
FPNs
paid |
Paid
% |
| Barking and Dagenham | 3,845 | 96 | 2.5% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Barnet | 9,763 | 10 | 0.1% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Bexley | 3,633 | 710 | 19.5% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Brent | 34,830 | 2,220 | 6.4% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Bromley | 3,626 | 27 | 0.7% | 11 | 0.3% |
| Camden | 31,457 | 462 | 1.5% | 0 | 0.0% |
| City of London | 2,998 | 859 | 28.7% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Croydon | 22,852 | 10 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Ealing | 12,922 | 5,192 | 40.2% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Enfield | 5,505 | 5,096 | 92.6% | 1,530 | 27.8% |
| Greenwich | 9,524 | 160 | 1.7% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Hackney | 27,471 | 278 | 1.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 13,504 | 2,863 | 21.2% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Haringey | 22,198 | 1,311 | 5.9% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Harrow | 9,222 | 1,137 | 12.3% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Havering | 3,249 | 654 | 20.1% | 444 | 13.7% |
| Hillingdon | 5,517 | 43 | 0.8% | 137 | 2.5% |
| Hounslow | 26,135 | 13 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Islington | 1,292 | 1,781 | 137.8% | 1,058 | 81.9% |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 7,263 | 610 | 8.4% | 327 | 4.5% |
| Kingston upon Thames | 3,721 | 346 | 9.3% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Lambeth | 5,951 | 1,572 | 26.4% | 176 | 3.0% |
| Lewisham | 24,327 | 1,515 | 6.2% | 217 | 0.9% |
| Merton | 17,914 | 1,121 | 6.3% | 723 | 4.0% |
| Newham | 17,497 | 804 | 4.6% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Redbridge | 6,713 | 659 | 9.8% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Richmond upon Thames | 3,675 | 110 | 3.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Southwark | 18,676 | 800 | 4.3% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Sutton | 4,946 | 2,004 | 40.5% | 2 | 0.0% |
| Tower Hamlets | 15,861 | 585 | 3.7% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Waltham Forest | 9,160 | 3,128 | 34.1% | 1,088 | 11.9% |
| Wandsworth | 6,094 | 5,236 | 85.9% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Westminster | 30,737 | 2,694 | 8.8% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Total/ average | 422,078 | 44,106 | 10.4% | 5,713 | 1.4% |
LoveJunk is an online marketplace for licensed rubbish removal. Their app has over 100,000 downloads and is recommended widely by councils. Learn more at www.lovejunk.com.
See full report, including council by council analysis at https://www.lovejunk.com/fly-tipping-report/
Feature Image by Elimende Inagella on Unsplash
