13% of the public admit to fly-tipping

One in eight UK residents admits to illegal fly-tipping, according to a new survey conducted by online furniture retailer Furniture and Choice. 

Despite fly-tipping being illegal, the survey, which was conducted on over 1,000 individuals, revealed the top five reasons for fly-tipping in the UK to be:

• There is nowhere else to take rubbish (38%)
• Unaware it was illegal (28%)
• It was the easiest option available (22%)
• The cost of disposing of it properly was too high (16%)
• Because they could get away with it (11%)

The retailer has warned that disposal of waste in this way can have a very serious impact on land, with chemicals in the waste potentially contaminating soil and harming local wildlife.

Recent government data has revealed that local authorities in England dealt with just under one million (976,000) fly-tipping incidents between 2019/2020. However, local authorities saw a decrease of 2% in the number of fixed penalty notices handed out to fly-tipping offenders within a 12 month period.

To help reduce fly-tipping across the UK, Furniture And Choice have created a new online tool with more than 800 furniture recycling and donation centres across the UK, with the aim to help people identify their nearest location in which to take their unwanted furniture and white goods.

Tom Obbard, Director at Furniture And Choice, said: ‘Fly-tipping causes a devastating impact on the environment and is expensive to clear, so it’s important we do all we can to decrease the number of incidents happening across the UK and help those who are unaware and knowledgeable on the law.

‘It is great to see that some councils are exercising their legislative powers and issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, as hopefully, it will deter people from committing the offence. However, more needs to be done on encouraging people to use recycling and donation sites instead of illegally discarding their waste.’

Photo Credit – Pixabay