Tackling fly-tipping and wider waste crime is a priority for the Government. Our Waste Strategy for England, published in May 2007, makes clear that initiatives to boost waste prevention and recycling should be supported by fly-tipping strategies aimed at tackling the illegal dumping of waste.
The Strategy includes the Government’s Illegal Waste Activity Action Plan, which sets out what action is being taken and proposed in this area. This includes:
(i) Reviewing the controls in place to deal with the management and carriage of waste. The review aims to reduce levels of fly-tipping by making it easier for businesses to understand and comply with the regulations and make them easier for local authorities to use.
(ii) Developing legislation that will give local authorities and the Environment Agency the powers to stop, search and instantly seize vehicles being used to commit fly-tipping offences.
(iii) Introducing mandatory Site Waste Management Plans for construction and demolition projects above a certain value.
(iv) Funding the Environment Agency’s targeted campaigns to disseminate good practice to businesses and raise awareness of good waste management practices.
(v) Delivering Flycapture Enforcement, a training programme aimed at local authority officers and their legal teams to increase knowledge of the relevant legislation and develop skills in effective enforcement and prosecution of fly-tippers.
(vi) Work with stakeholders to consider how the Flycapture database can be enhanced or improved to help local authorities implement fly-tipping interventions.
DEFRA has also funded Environmental Campaigns (Encams) to deliver a programme of work on local environmental quality and fly-tipping issues in partnership with Government Offices. This work will support the poorest performing local authorities in each region through a combination of data analysis, best practice sharing and targeted seminars. It will also promote the introduction of fly-tipping targets within local area agreements.
In addition, DEFRA funded the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science to produce research on fly-tipping—“Fly-tipping: Causes, Incentives and Solutions”. This included good practice guidance on crime prevention techniques, including surveillance, and has been distributed to all local authorities in England.