Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of fly tipping were reported to the Environment Agency in each of the last five years; and how many of these cases resulted in a successful prosecution.

The Environment Agency tackles a wide range of waste crime including illegal dumping, responding to those incidents which pose the most significant threat to the environment due to their scale, impact or the involvement of organised crime groups. It is the role and responsibility of local authorities to handle smaller scale fly-tipping incidents. Any caller to the Environment Agency who identifies fly-tipping at the scale or nature that we do not handle is directed to the appropriate local authority.

In terms of illegal dumping and other waste crime, in 2020/21 the Environment Agency secured 25 successful prosecutions which resulted in total fines of £475,796 and seven custodial sentences. It is everyone’s responsibility to check they only use properly licensed waste carriers – if they do not, they risk a fine if that rubbish ends up being fly-tipped.