Criminals caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally could face five years in prison under proposed new legislation – with drones and CCTV cameras deployed to target vehicles
Cowboy waste operators and fly-tippers will have their vehicles seized and crushed under a major crackdown.
Councils will be ordered to “get much more aggressive” with people dumping rubbish, with drones and mobile CCTV cameras deployed to identify cars and vans belonging to offenders so they can be destroyed.
Criminals caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally could also face five years in prison under proposed new legislation.
Councils currently bear the cost of seizing and storing vehicles but fly-tippers will be made to foot the bill under the plans.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “Waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages have gone unpunished for too long.
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“That ends today. The Government is calling time on fly-tipping. I will not stand by while this avalanche of rubbish buries our communities.”
Speaking on a visit to a car-crushing plant in Wokingham, Berkshire, he said: “Councils will get much more aggressive against fly-tippers and that includes using the latest technology, things like the new mobile CCTV cameras and drones to identify, track and then seize the vehicles that are being used for fly-tipping to a yard like this and crush them.
“That’s both as a punishment for those people who are dumping the rubbish but also as a deterrent for those who are thinking about doing it.”
Mr Reed said rogue operators who collect rubbish from someone’s home and then dump it nearby were “getting away almost scot-free under the previous Government” but they could face up to five years in prison under proposals to change the law.
A record 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents were recorded last year, a 20% increase since 2018/19, according to figures from the Department for the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Ministers have ordered a review on how to encourage more councils to deploy powers to seize and destroy vehicles, as only two councils accounted for more than 60% of seizures in 2023/24.
But cash-strapped town halls won’t get extra funding for the crackdown.
Mr Reed said: “In the most recent Budget, councils got a nearly 7% increase in their funding. That was the biggest increase for years.
“Now we expect councils to use some of that additional funding to tackle the scourge of dumped rubbish on our streets.”
The Environment Agency will be handed more resources to police the industry through permits and carry out identity and criminal record checks.
Environment Agency chief executive Philip Duffy said: “Waste crime is toxic. Criminals’ thoughtless actions harm people, places, and the economy, blighting our communities and disrupting legitimate businesses.
“We’re determined to bring these criminals to justice through tough enforcement action and prosecutions.
“That’s why we support the Government’s crackdown on waste criminals, which will ensure we have the right powers to shut rogue operators out of the waste industry.”
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