Local authority recorded fly-tipping: April 2019 to March 2020

Care should be taken when interpreting these figures due to ongoing changes and improvements in data reporting mechanisms and associated guidance (see Quality report).

The period April 2019 to March 2020 was largely before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and therefore there will have been little impact on the number of reported incidents. However, due to issues processing data during a period of COVID restrictions, 3 of the 22 local authorities were unable to provide figures for the 4^th quarter, January to March 2020. For these authorities, an estimation for this period has been calculated based on the first 3 quarters of 2019-20 (April to December 2019) and quarter 4 from the previous year (January to March 2019). The Wales totals thus also contain an element of estimation.

Main points

• 33,542 fly-tipping incidents were reported in Wales. This is 4.4% less than the previous year, and the lowest figure reported since 2014-15. (a)
• Annual change in the number of fly-tipping incidents varied across Wales. 8 local authorities reported a decrease and 13 local authorities reported an increase and 1 remained the same.
• The largest annual decrease in fly-tipping incidents was in Powys (60%), with considerable decreases in Merthyr Tydfil (36%), Conwy (33%), Pembrokeshire (26%) and Isle of Anglesey (24%).
• The largest annual increases were in Gwynedd (95%), Monmouthshire (90%) and Carmarthenshire (16%). This was partly due to improved reporting mechanisms.
• 72% of incidents involved household waste (black bag or other household waste).
• Fly-tipping clearance in Wales was estimated to cost £1.76 million. (b)
• 23,359 enforcement actions were taken; the lowest number of enforcement actions to be taken since 2012-13.
• 91% of prosecution outcomes resulted in a fine.

(a) Following clarification of guidance documentation on fly tipping in 2017, side waste (excess waste placed next to a bin) are no longer reported as fly tipping incidents.
(b) Estimated clearance costs are based on the number of incidents broken down by size. This information is not recorded for all incidents. In 2019-20, size information was provided for 94% of incidents. 

Background information

The statistics are based on the returns made by local authorities to the Waste Data Flow database. Although some are recorded, the statistics do not cover all fly-tipping incidents on private land, and not all incidents of fly-tipping will be reported to the local authority.