Fly-tipping and Litter

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 14 September 2017.

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Photo of Chi Onwurah Chi Onwurah Shadow Minister (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) (Industrial Strategy)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce littering and fly-tipping.

Photo of Therese Coffey Therese Coffey The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Government published the first Litter Strategy for England on 10 April, setting out our aim to clean up the country.

Our strategy is to apply best practice in education, enforcement and infrastructure to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering behaviour within a generation. The common aim of all the actions in the Litter Strategy is to change the behaviour of those who currently feel that it is acceptable to drop litter. The Strategy can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england

Fly-tipping is unacceptable as it blights the areas where it occurs, imposes costs on those whose land is affected, can pose a risk to the environment or human health and it affects the livelihoods of those involved in the legitimate waste management business.

We are committed to tackling fly-tipping and the Government has:

  • given local authorities in England the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £400 for small-scale fly-tipping, providing local authorities with an alternative to prosecutions and helping them take a proportionate enforcement response;

  • made it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized;

  • cracked down on offenders by strengthening the Sentencing Council’s Guideline for environmental offences, which came into force on 1 July 2014;

  • strengthened the waste duty of care by publishing a revised Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice, that provides guidance to local authorities, regulators, waste industry and all those that produce, keep, import, treat, have control or dispose of controlled waste on how to comply with their waste duty of care obligations;

  • supported the industry-led Right Waste Right Place campaign to promote Duty of Care to small businesses. The campaign will be targeting construction, retail and agricultural businesses; and

  • chaired the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) to prevent and tackle illegal dumping. The NFTPG includes representatives from central and local Government, enforcement authorities, the waste industry, and private landowners. The NFTPG has published a Fly-tipping Partnership Framework outlining best practice for the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipping to be adapted to suit local circumstances, and a series of fly-tipping prevention guides for householders, businesses and landowners.

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