Future Countryside and the National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) have today published a major new report warning that fly-tipping and waste crime have evolved into a large-scale criminal industry that is devastating rural communities, damaging the environment and costing the UK economy hundreds of millions of pounds every year.
The report, Breaking the Cycle: Tackling Fly-Tipping and Waste Crime – A Roadmap for Reform, argues that the current system for dealing with waste crime is fragmented, inconsistent and failing victims.
Official figures show that local authorities in England dealt with more than 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents in 2024-25, a 9% increase on the previous year. However, the report concludes that the true scale of the problem is far greater because incidents on private land, large-scale illegal dumping handled by the Environment Agency and many unreported cases are excluded from the national data.
The report highlights growing evidence that organised criminal gangs are increasingly involved in waste crime, exploiting weak regulation and patchy enforcement to generate substantial illegal profits. At least 11 major illegal waste “super-sites” have been identified across England, including one in Cheshire containing an estimated 280,000 tonnes of waste.
Despite extensive legal powers being available, enforcement remains weak. Only around 31% of recorded incidents are investigated and more than half of those investigations result in no further action. In 2024-25, there were just 13 custodial sentences for fly-tipping offences across England.
The report also exposes the unfair burden placed on landowners, farmers and rural businesses, who are frequently left to pay thousands of pounds to remove illegally dumped waste despite being the victims of the crime.
Among the report’s key recommendations are:
The report further calls for a comprehensive national dataset covering all fly-tipping and waste crime incidents, including those on private land, and proposes a new Waste Crime (Prevention) Act to bring together a range of reforms under a single legislative framework.
Commenting on the report, Tim Passmore, Chair of the National Rural Crime Network, said:
“This report exposes a system that is failing. Waste crime and fly-tipping is not low-level nuisance offending – it is serious, organised criminality that is damaging our environment, hitting rural communities hard and leaving innocent victims to foot the bill. Criminals know the risks are low and the rewards are high. That has to change. We need tougher enforcement, sharper accountability and a system that finally treats waste crime and fly-tipping with the seriousness it deserves.”
Julian Glover, co-founder of Future Countryside, said:
“Fly-tipping is no longer a simple environmental nuisance. It has become a serious criminal enterprise which blights communities, harms nature and places victims under unacceptable financial pressure. All too often, rural communities are expected to shoulder the costs while offenders operate with impunity.
“This report sets out a practical roadmap for reform. The laws already exist in many areas, but enforcement is inconsistent, accountability is ill-defined and organised criminals are exploiting the gaps. Without decisive action, the problem will continue to grow.”
The report has been produced jointly by Future Countryside and the National Rural Crime Network and draws on official statistics, industry evidence, academic research and testimony from across the rural sector. It will be formally launched at Future Countryside at Raby Castle on Tuesday 2 June in a discussion on waste crime led by the well-known broadcaster Kirstie Allsopp, who also contributed the foreword to the report.
Between the recent government Waste Crime Action Plan and an ongoing House of Lords inquiry into the issue, political attention to the issue of waste crime has never been higher. Future Countryside and the NRCN are calling on ministers, regulators, police forces, local authorities and the Environment Agency to work together to deliver a more coordinated and effective national response.
Breaking the Cycle: Tackling Fly-Tipping and Waste Crime – A Roadmap for Reform is available to read in full now.