What is fly-tipping?

Fly-tipping is waste dumped or tipped in a place with no licence to accept it. Waste includes: general domestic waste, large items such as fridges and mattresses, garden refuse, commercial waste such as builder's rubble, clinical waste and tyres.

UK waste comes under controls that impose a duty to ensure that waste is disposed of properly. Only holders of a Waste Management Licence can recover, transport, deposit or dispose of waste. Your household waste is exempt so long as it is within your own premises or garden. Waste can only be deposited at officially authorised sites. Anyone fly-tipping waste is committing a serious offence. Fines are up to £50,000 - unlimited if it goes to the Crown Court, or an offender can be sent to prison. It is also an offence to allow fly-tipping on your land.

Where fly-tipping involves use of a vehicle, the driver can be prosecuted, as can the person in control of the vehicle. The police have powers to seize vehicles used for fly-tipping.

What are the penalties for fly-tipping?


We are responsible for the removal of fly-tipping within Erewash if on public land. We are committed to the prosecution of offenders and urge the public to report all matters of fly-tipping. To help us to prosecute, if you can get as much information as possible of the offenders then we can take appropriate action.

Report fly-tipping on your My Erewash account (opens in new window). You can track your request so that you we will let you know what progress we are making.

To report incidents that you don't want us to feedback to you about use our general enquiries form.

Household Waste – Duty of care

The duty of care requires householders to take all reasonable measures available to them in the circumstances to ensure that they only transfer household waste produced on their property to an authorised person. This reduces the chance of waste ending up in the hands of those who would fly-tip it.

Some people pose as legitimate waste carriers and then fly-tip rubbish that they have been paid to dispose of properly. If any fly-tipped waste is traced back to the household it came from, the householder could be fined. We recommend that you carry out the following check:

  • Ask the contractor if they are a registered waste carrier and ask for their waste carrier licence.
  • Contact the Environment Agency on 03708 506506 and ask for an instant Waste Carrier Validation Check.