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Organized Crime Fuels UK Fly-Tipping Crisis
2 Jun
Summary
- Organized criminal gangs are increasingly involved in fly-tipping.
- Fly-tipping has become a serious criminal enterprise, not just a nuisance.
- Local authorities handled over 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents last year.

A new report, 'Breaking the Cycle: Tackling Fly-Tipping and Waste Crime,' reveals a concerning rise in organised criminal gang involvement in fly-tipping. These groups are exploiting low-risk, high-reward opportunities. This criminal activity is no longer just an environmental issue but a significant enterprise that harms communities and nature.
Official figures from last year show over 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents were handled by local authorities in England, marking a 9% increase from the previous year. However, the true scale of the problem is believed to be much larger, as incidents on private land and large-scale illegal dumping are often excluded from these statistics.