Fly-tipping: What is it and why should you care?

Let’s meet this head on: what the hell is fly-tipping? If you don’t know we’ll forgive you because you are not alone. 

First out, it has nothing to do with cow-tipping* or any other animal-based tilting. Fly-tipping is illegally dumping waste in undesignated areas. We’re familiar with the idea of waste tips and this is all about tipping on the fly… with us so far? It extends from dumping fridges in fields to simply missing the bin with your wrapper: it’s littering, from little to large.

London is the worst place in Britain for fly-tipping, with 40% of all fly-tipping in the UK happening in the capital.

What many don’t realise is that fly-tipping is a criminal offence with some seriously hefty consequences. Offenders cough up thousands in fines, get jail time, or have their vans crushed into a cube to prevent further fly-tipping. Now we all dislike litter – it looks ugly and brings a neighbourhood down a notch – but why is fly-tipping punishment quite so extreme? And why on earth are you spending valuable YouTube time reading about it?

The latter is easy: because it affects you whether you realise it or not. Fly-tipped items might be hazardous or biodegradable waste, such as the thankfully empty coffin and two live turtles that were dumped in Redbridge. It encourages vermin, can cause illness and injure people and animals, and is environmentally awful. Serial fly-tippers also con people by charging money to dispose of goods legally, only to dump them around the corner.

It can also result in the broken window effect. Take a festival like Notting Hill Carnival for example. All the bins fill up quickly, then just put their containers on the ground nearby. That encourages others to do the same. Eventually, even the best of us are adding to the growing pile that some poor bugger will eventually have to pick up. One bad turn encourages another, and a broken window or dumped mattress makes an area look like a wasteland. Others will quickly treat it as such.

These are all good enough reasons for local councils to crack down on fly-tipping, but the biggest reason for taking a hard line is simple:

Fly-tippers are dicks.

We like to discourage dick-ish behaviour as often and as quickly as possible. Fly-tippers ruin areas, encourage crime, disease, pollution and scavengers and that’s just not okay. The reasons they do it are the same ones behind so many other things: greed and laziness.

For my two cents, the main reason that Londoners dominate fly-tipping in the UK is their shortage of cars. It’s such a hassle to maintain a car in the city that most of us rely on trains (sorry Southern users) to get around. Those who do drive are unlikely to own vans large enough to carry heavy goods like sofas. That means we’re up the creek and our paddle’s replaced with two TVs, an old desktop computer and a stained microwave.

Councils will collect large bulky items but they often charge a fee. Fifteen pounds per oven might not be much to most people but for those living on the line it’s impossible. The government is trying its best to fight fly-tippers and asking people to report it quickly but as long as dumping in the street is cheaper than the services offered by the local council, it’ll continue to happen.

Some councils have cottoned on and are offering free pick-ups, hopefully inspiring others to do the same. In the meantime, we all have to do our part: donate your stuff or dispose of it in a decent way. And in general, don’t be a dick.

*Please don’t tip cows. Unless they’ve given you really good service.

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