Fly-tippers and waste vandals could soon be forced to clean up streets and parks and pay the costs of clearing their mess under new government plans for “clean up squads”.
According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), under new proposals, local authorities would get the power to issue fly-tippers with so-called ‘conditional cautions’ instead of being taken to court.
This could see offenders complete up to 20 hours of unpaid work, cleaning streets, parks, and the exact places they have dumped waste.
Also in a landmark step, councils will be handed new powers to seize money directly from fly-tippers to fund their clean up operations.
Currently, fly-tippers can only be punished after being convicted, at which point they can be handed a significant fine, community sentences, or even a prison sentence.
This new proposal aims to speed up enforcement, clamp down on fly-tippers, and “restore pride in communities”, Defra said.
The new measures will give local authorities another tool to fight litter louts and deter them from dumping waste in the first place.
It forms part of a wide range of tough new powers the government will announce as part of its new Waste Crime Action Plan.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said:
“If you dump rubbish on our streets, you will be joining a clean-up squad and picking up the bill, not the taxpayer.”
“This government is handing both the Environment Agency and local authorities the power to boost waste crime enforcement, hand out tougher sentences, and tackle illegal dumping faster.”
According to Defra, recent statistics have shown an uptick in enforcement against fly-tippers, with local authorities carrying out 572,000 enforcement actions in 2024/2025, an increase of 8% from 530,000 in 2023/2024.
These actions included issuing fixed penalty notices, 69,000 of which were issued in 2024/2025 – an increase of 9% from 63,000 in 2023/2024.
New powers
The government has already given local authorities new powers to stamp out waste crime.
Alongside the £78 billion made available to council budgets in England this year, the government is encouraging councils to crush more fly-tippers’ vehicles by publishing guidance for the first time.
This includes advice on taking cases to court and securing convictions against vehicle owners.
According to Defra, while councils across England already have the power to seize vehicles involved in fly-tipping, they will now be expected to go even further.
Recommended measures include: naming and shaming those involved on social media; sharing images and videos of their vehicles being crushed; and deploying surveillance techniques – such as CCTV, drones and Automatic Number Plate Recognition – to catch criminals in the act.
