The Welsh Government has released its finalised fly-tipping strategy outlining several ways in which it hopes to tackle the issue of the illegal dumping of waste.

Fly-tipping in Wales

Over 32,000 fly-tipping incidents were recorded in Wales during 2013/14, according to the national fly-tipping database Flycapture, costing the Welsh tax-payer over £1.9 million to clear. (Flycapture only records incidents that take place on public land, however, so when taking into account those occurring on private land, the number is likely to be much higher.)

In a bid to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of illegal fly-tipping, the Welsh Government has been consulting with partner organisations from the private, public and voluntary sectors with the aim of developing a strategy that can help:

• ensure all key organisations in Wales commit to eliminating fly-tipping;
• make it ‘widely understood’ that fly-tipping is socially unacceptable;
• make it easier for people to deal with their waste effectively; and
• ensure that anyone who fly-tips is caught and ‘punished appropriately’.

Outcomes and Actions

The strategy, ‘A Fly-tipping Free Wales', outlines several outcomes and actions that will now be taken to address fly-tipping off the back of these consultations. These are:

Ensuring all key organisations in Wales commit to eliminating fly-tipping

The report emphasises that it is through partnership that the issue will be tackled. Fly-tipping, it argues, will not be hindered if approached with small, localised initiatives. It must be considered in all key policies and strategies of large landowner like the National Trust and Network Rail to ensure a consistent message.

Actions towards fulfilling this outcome include:

• examining the possibility of making the investigation of fly-tipping incidents a statutory duty;
• investigating the barriers to tackling fly-tipping at a local level;
• trialling a working agreement between Natural Resources Wales, local authorities and private landowners, outlining best practice for dealing with incidents;
• promoting resource sharing at a local level to enable access to expert support for tackling fly-tipping; and
• raising the profile of fly-tipping at the highest level by providing a ‘robust evidence base’ to identify the problems and provide a measure against which to assess the impact of the strategy

Making it ‘widely understood’ that fly-tipping is socially unacceptable

Research undertaken by the Welsh Government-sponsored flytipping task group Fly-tipping Action Wales has found that, while people generally view fly-tipping as socially unacceptable, only 51 per cent are aware of their ‘duty of care’, the law that requires everybody to ensure their waste is disposed of safely, legally and responsibly.

The strategy aims to empower local communities by making it easier to report incidents and to actively promote the use of waste as a resource, making it less attractive to dump it illegally.

Actions towards fulfilling this outcome include:

• liaising with existing networks and ‘local champions’ to deliver fly-tipping messages and advice within the community;
• ensuring that people know how they can report fly-tipping and what help there is available to tackle the issue;
• working with Waste Awareness Wales and WRAP Cymru to change the perceptions of waste with the view to it being considered a resource; and
• working with major landfills and others to try and eliminate fly-tipping at source.

Making it easier for people to deal with their waste effectively

According to Fly-tipping Action Wales, although the majority of people know where they can legally dispose of their waste, many are loathe to pay charges for disposing of certain wastes (such as bulky waste). It also discovered that small businesses often feel that their waste is not large enough to make collection cost effective and that the costs of legal disposal make fly-tipping more attractive.

Actions towards fulfilling this outcome include:

• undertaking research to determine if there is a relationship between waste policies and fly-tipping;
• promoting engagement with fly-tippers to understand why people do it and what will make them stop; and
• working with partners to investigate the benefit of establishing or supporting the production of a trade waste directory for Wales.

Ensuring that anyone who fly-tips is caught and ‘punished appropriately’

The Welsh Government argues that fly-tipping is, by its nature, a ’difficult crime to detect’, highlighting that just 85 of the 32,934 fly-tipping incidents reported in 2013/14 led to prosecution.

At present, the only available way for enforcement officers to punish offenders is to take the case to court or issue a caution. The strategy suggests that being able to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (in the form of a fine) would create a better deterrent.

Moreover, it argues, that when there is a successful investigation in one area, fly-tippers merely move their operations to neighbouring authorities. As such, it states that more offenders could be caughts if there was more sharing of intelligence between local authorities.

Actions towards fulfilling this outcome include:

• supporting the establishment of an intelligence-sharing database for Wales;
• bringing together enforcement and legal practitioners to create a pool of expertise;
• seeking to develop a standardised national training package for enforcement officers;
• facilitating the production of a best practice guide for dealing with incidents; and
• investigating the introduction of a Fixed Penalty Notice, or other enforcement tools.

FlyMapper roll out

The Welsh Government argues that as one of the most important steps to tackling fly-tipping is to ensure there is ‘robust data’ on the problem, it will be promoting further uptake of its smartphone application (app) FlyMapper, which allows council waste officers to log, photograph and plot fly-tipping spots in Wales.

Using a combination of spreadsheets, photography and GPS mapping, the app documents flytipping incidents in the hopes of enabling local authorities to target problem areas, and identify which items are commonly dumped.

Speaking of the FlyMapper system and the need for greater evidence, Carl Sargeant, Wales’s Natural Resources Minister, said: “To enable us to effectively tackle fly-tipping in Wales, we need to have robust data on which to base our programmes.

“We need to know where and when incidents of fly-tipping are taking place and be able to demonstrate whether current practices are impacting on levels of fly-tipping. FlyMapper, when rolled out across Wales, will give us this capability.

“In addition to the number, location and type of waste recorded we also need a clearer picture of the level of investigations and prosecutions taking place. The numbers of successful prosecutions are readily available but we need to look more closely at these figures to get a better understanding of how we are performing and what we can do to improve detection and prosecutions.”

‘Tackling localised fly-tipping in a more collaborative and intelligence-led way’

Gary Evans, the Programme Manager of Fly-tipping Action Wales added: “We remain committed to helping the minister achieve his strategic aims and objectives, as well as empowering local authorities, private land owners and communities across Wales, to tackle localised fly-tipping together in a more collaborative and intelligence-led way.

“The national roll out of our FlyMapper GPS system will help achieve this and we will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government and our 50 partner organisations to make it as difficult as possible for fly-tippers to operate in Wales.”

Read the full ‘A Fly-tipping Free Wales' report or find out more about the FlyMapper tool.