Scores of councils across the UK have in effect ended enforcement of fines for littering, while others are letting litterers off lightly and many more are neglecting to enforce fines for fly-tipping.
At least 71 councils failed to issue a single fine for littering last year, while a further 67 issued fewer than 10, according to data from the Clean Up Britain campaign.
John Read, the founder of Clean Up Britain, said: “In large swathes of the country, there is eco-anarchy. Anyone can litter with complete impunity and no fear of being caught and convicted.”
Levying fines on those who litter would not only help to stem the rising tide of rubbish, but could be a source of revenue for cash-strapped councils, according to Read, who uncovered the data through requests to councils under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
Fines for littering amounted to less than £48m last year, from about 200,000 fixed-penalty notices (FPNs) that were issued, in contrast to the fines for parking offences, which came to £867m for the 300 councils that responded.
Quick Guide
Councils that have not issued FPNs
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The 18 councils with no fining policy
Chichester, Exeter, Falkirk, Isle of Anglesey, London borough of Southwark, Mid Sussex, Midlothian, Orkney Islands, Scottish Borders, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, St Albans, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick, West Berkshire, Winchester, Wirral, Wokingham
The 54 councils that have a policy but did not issue any FPNs
Angus, Basingstoke & Deane, Bradford, Bridgend, Broadland, Bromsgrove, Broxbourne, Castle Point, Central Bedfordshire, Charnwood, Cheltenham, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Denbighshire, East Devon, East Dunbartonshire, East Hampshire, East Lothian, Fermanagh and Omagh, Forest of Dean, Fylde, Gedling, Highland, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Lewes, Maldon, Mole Valley, Moray, North Norfolk, Reading, Ribble Valley, Rochford, Rossendale, Runnymede, Rushmoor, Rutland, Sevenoaks, Shetland Islands, Slough, South Hams, Stroud, Surrey Heath, Tendring, Tewkesbury, Three Rivers, Torfaen, Tunbridge Wells, Wealden, West Devon, West Dunbartonshire, Westmorland and Furness, Woking, Wychavon
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Littering is a severe problem around the UK. Keep Britain Tidy, the campaigning organisation, found last year that only nine out of 100 places in England visited in its research were free from litter.
“The only sustainable and effective solution to Britain’s litter epidemic is behavioural change,” said Read. “Many people will only change their behaviour if they have a genuine fear of being caught and severely punished. That’s one of the reasons why Clean Up Britain is lobbying for fines to be increased from £500 to £1,000. Littering is a crime that degrades our environment and the whole of society is forced to endure.”
Littering is a crime under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act, punishable with a fine of up to £2,500 in court but usually dealt with through a fixed penalty notice of up to £500 in England. Only 77 councils of the 301 that responded to Clean Up Britain’s requests issued more than 100 FPNs for littering in 2024-25.
The average fine levied was £192, and Labour-controlled councils issued 77% of all fines, with the 10 councils that issued the most fines all controlled by Labour, according to Read.
Fly-tipping is a separate offence, relating to dumping rubbish on private or public land or roadways, and councils can issue FPNs of £1,000 for incidents without going through the courts. Government data released last month showed that fly-tipping was at a record high. But last year, according to Clean Up Britain’s research, though 77,000 people were caught fly-tipping by the councils responding to its questions, only 26,000 FPNs were issued, and of these only about half were paid. As a result, the councils collected only about £8.5m, with about £9.3m in revenue lost.
About 30 councils failed to issue any FPNs for fly-tipping, according to the FoI responses, and only about one in 100 prosecutions for fly-tipping resulted in a custodial sentence.
The government should also urgently review sentencing guidelines for fly-tipping, according to the Local Government Association, because separate research has found that offenders prosecuted through the courts are getting off with penalties lighter than councils could issue directly.
Slough, in Berkshire, where Slough borough council failed to give out a single fine for littering. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Alamy
The average court fine for fly-tipping is £539, which is £87 lower than the £626 average FPN councils issued for the same offence, according to the LGA, based on its analysis of the most recent government data. The LGA said this sentencing gap undermined deterrence, weakened enforcement, and left councils out of pocket after time-consuming and costly prosecutions.
Fly-tipping cost councils in England more than £19.3m a year to clear up, with 1.26m incidents recorded in 2024-25, according to the LGA.
The LGA uncovered a case in York in which two offenders were each fined £300 by magistrates for waste offences, despite FPNs of £600 and £1,000 having been issued. In Wiltshire, a fly-tipper who failed to pay a £1,000 FPN was fined £80 when the case was brought to court. In Chelmsford, two offenders were each fined £300 after being prosecuted for fly-tipping, lower than the £400 FPNs they had received.
Arooj Shah, a Labour councillor in Oldham and chair of the LGA neighbourhoods committee, said sentencing guidelines were failing to reflect the seriousness of illicit dumping. “Fly-tipping is criminal activity that blights communities and costs taxpayers millions of pounds every year,” she said. “Councils are working hard to investigate and prosecute offenders, but when court fines are lower than fixed penalties, it undermines enforcement and fails to act as a deterrent.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We are giving authorities the tools they need to fight back against waste crime. Digital waste tracking will close the loopholes criminals exploit, drones are catching offenders in the act, and councils have the power to crush their vans – making it more and more difficult for criminals to hide. Our new statutory guidance will also help local authorities make better use of their legal powers to tackle littering, including issuing on-the-spot fines of up to £500.”
The government is also planning to give local environment officers powers similar to police to crack down on waste criminals.
