Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of household or trade waste. It can vary in size, from as little as a single bag of rubbish to domestic items such as furniture and fridges or even a truck load of rubbish.
It's important to understand what is classed as fly tipping so you don't accidentally put yourself at risk of a fine as if your waste is fly tipped, by you or by someone else on your behalf, you could face up to a £1000 fixed penalty notice or an unlimited fine.
If it's your waste, it's your responsibility.
Leaving items:
beside street bins and recycling banks
on the floor of communal bin areas
outside closed recycling centres and charity shops
We all have a legal obligation, or duty of care, to ensure our household or business waste is disposed of correctly. The best way to stop organised fly-tipping is to make sure that only authorised waste carriers take your waste away.
When using a waste collector, remember SCRAP:
S - Suspect all waste carriers. Don't let them take your rubbish until they provide proof of registration. Note their vehicle's registration plate.
R - Refuse any unexpected offers to have your rubbish taken away.
A - Ask how your rubbish will be disposed of - seek evidence of this.
P - Paperwork must be obtained: a proper invoice, waste transfer note or receipt, including a description of the waste being removed and the waste carrier's contact details.
What else you can do with your household waste
Use your kerbside bin collection - Details of your local bin collections and what you can put in your bins can be found onMy Breckland
Sell or donate your unwanted items - use social media groups or websites like Freecycle (opens new window). Please ensure that you only donate items to charity shops when they are open
What to do if you discover a fly-tip
If the offence is being committed at the time of the call, please contact the police.
Residents are advised not to touch fly-tipped waste, as it may be dangerous. The council treats fly-tipping as a serious offence and will prosecute anyone caught fly-tipping waste.
If you discover fly-tipped waste:
do not approach the person(s) fly-tipping
if you do approach, or cannot avoid coming into contact with the suspect, consider your own safety
avoid conflict or altercation and leave the area if necessary
if possible, take a photo or record the incident using discretion from a safe distance
If you find a discarded syringe or needle, do not touch it.
Report the discarded syringe or needle us as soon as possible on 01362 656870 providing as much detail as possible about the location, such as:
The nearest address
The nearest street name.
Your phone number would be helpful (although this is optional) as our team may require a more precise location if they have difficulty finding the syringe.
This service is free of charge.
Reporting fly-tipping
Dead wild birds should not be touched but should be reported to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)/Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) via theGOV.uk website (opens new window) or by calling 03459 33 55 77
If you witnessed the fly-tip, we will also ask for as much detail as possible. This may include times, dates, vehicle details, company details and a description of the fly-tipper. We will also ask you to leave your details in case we need any further information, although you can choose to remain anonymous if you prefer.
However providing your details is important for any investigation of evidence at a fly-tip as we may be limited in the action we can take without being able to contact you.
We remove fly-tipping from publicly-owned land, which includes roads and lay-bys. If the fly-tip is on private land such as people's gardens, driveways and business properties it is the responsibility of the land owner to remove it - for more information regarding this please go to:
There are three main ways that we tackle fly-tipping:
we use state-of-the-art CCTV to catch offenders
we have a team of professionals who investigate every case
we have the legal power to issue fixed penalty notices to fly-tippers, which can lead to prosecution
Breckland Council (the Council) use CCTV and surveillance to help deter inconsiderate behaviour, protect our residents and public places, whilst observing offenders who may seek to harm our communities and break the law. CCTV can provide crucial evidence to enable enforcement action and prosecution, where appropriate, of such offenders.
On occasion, it may become necessary for the Council to use captured footage or images to identify particular person(s) of interest. This does not always mean that they are suspects under investigation, and may include people who could provide key information, or a witness account of an incident, or someone that may be involved with an issue, incident or offence that is the subject of the investigation.
How can you help with identification?
If you wish to help Breckland Council with identifying person(s) of interest, please click on the button below.
All viewers including members of the public, third party associations and media organisations should not copy, share or publicise the images and footage beyond this website.
