Flytipping and Litter
Flytipping
The illegal deposit of waste is taken seriously by the Council and it aims to take legal action against flytippers, where there is sufficient evidence to do so.
Reporting flytipping
If you wish to report an incidence of flytipping, or if you have information on persons who are carrying out flytipping, please contact us.
Ordinarily the Council will only be able to take action against the perpetrators of flytipping if the incident is witnessed. If you have witnessed an incident plase contact the Council for advice and guidance on how to proceed with your complaint. All complaints are dealt with in confidence.
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is also involved in flytipping and the illegal use of land for the storage or disposal of waste. Ordinarily incidents will only be dealt with by the Environment Agency if they are of a large scale (more than a tipper lorry load) or of a seriously polluting nature. If in doubt please contact the Council in the first instance.
The local Regional office is based at Worthing.
- General enquiries : 08708 506 506
or see the Environment Agency website contact page for more contact details
Further information on flytipping and action that can be taken by stakeholders can be found on the Environment Agency website
DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
DEFRA have information about flytipping on their website :
Fly-tipping is a term used to describe the illegal dumping of material on any land or deposit of waste on land that is not licensed to accept it. In practice this usually means waste dumped in lay-bys, farmland, back alleyways or items placed by litter or recycling bins. The most common items dumped in Adur and Worthing are black sacks from domestic or non-domestic premises, furniture, fridges, tyres and other electrical items although fly-tipped material can be almost anything.
Perpetrators of fly-tipping can vary from householders leaving black sacks out in the street away from their property to rogue traders that take large quantities of household and trade waste for cash in hand, only to dump it irresponsibly later.
Penalties and Duty of Care
The penalty for those caught fly-tipping can be very high – up to 12 months imprisonment and/ or up to a £50,000 fine in the Magistrates Court, or five years and/ or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. The Council will be prepared to consider enforcement action in cases where evidence is strong and you are prepared to provide a witness statement and appear in court as necessary.
All householders and businesses can help eliminate fly-tipping by dealing only with responsible waste carriers and contractors. Anybody carrying waste for reward has to have a valid waste carriers’ licence and you should check that the person you are handing your waste to has a valid licence. If you are unsure, you can also check the public register of waste carriers on the Environment Agency's website . Please be aware that local authority waste contractors (such as Adur and Worthing Council Services) are exempt from the requirement to have a licence. This exemption does not extend to external contractors offering a service on behalf of a local authority (eg Biffa, Sita, Veolia etc).
As a householder you merely have to be satisfied that you taken all reasonable precautions to ensure that you have given your waste to a licensed contractor and that you know its likely destination. Be wary of any contractor that cold calls and offers to take waste away on your behalf without showing a licence. If this material is later dumped and it can be traced back to your address, you may be liable for the dumping.
Non-domestic producers of waste such as businesses are required to enter into a contract for the collection of their waste. This is not a service that is paid for from business rates and non-domestic customers may choose any licensed waste contractor to carry this service out on their behalf. Waste may also be taken by the business directly to a landfill site or other licensed disposal site, but in order to do this they must have a valid carriers’ licence. When businesses transfer waste to a carrier or disposal site they must obtain a waste transfer note which describes the type and quantity of waste. A sample waste transfer note can be found below. You must keep these documents safely and available for inspection for a minimum of two years. Council officers will make occasional inspections to ensure that businesses are complying with their duty of care in respect of waste.
In addition to ensuring that was is transferred to a licensed contractor, domestic and non-domestic premises have a duty of care to ensure that waste does not escape from their control. In practical terms this means that waste must be contained at all times and if it is likely to be vulnerable to interference containers should be locked or kept in a secure site.
Litter
Reporting Littering Offences
Litter has a wide definition and is generally assumed to be discarded material associated with smoking, eating and drinking, or waste that has been scattered about from business or waste management operations. Litter could include items such as cigarette ends, discarded takeaways and their wrappings, chewing gum, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, drink bottles and cans, drugs related litter and any other item (big or small).
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (section 87) states that if a person drops, throws, deposits or leaves anything in a place, they commit a littering offence. Enforcement of littering offences rests with Adur and Worthing Council Services in their respective areas. If you see an incident of littering, please report it by contacting us. You will be asked to provide as many details of the incident as possible. In order for any enforcement action to be taken you must be prepared to act as a witness if necessary. The Council has the ability to deal with most cases by issuing a fixed penalty notice (current rate £75) but prosecution may be necessary if the perpetrator does not accept the fixed penalty notice or fails to pay within the specified time of fourteen days.
Persistently Littered Areas
As well as individual acts of littering, the Council also has powers to deal with areas that are persistently littered. These may include, but are not restricted to, areas around fast food outlets, supermarkets, petrol stations, banks with ATM machines or areas where smokers congregate outside public houses or businesses. If you come across a location that is constantly defaced by litter, please contact us.
Street Cleansing (Sweeping)
Adur and Worthing Council Services operate street cleansing across both districts. In most cases streets are inspected fortnightly and cleansing is carried out as necessary. In some cases, it is not possible to undertake comprehensive street cleansing activities due to the presence of parked cars. Where this is a problem in Worthing this can be tackled by parking suspensions in partnership with the on-street parking enforcement teams. Parking will normally be suspended for a couple of hours at a time to enable mechanical sweepers to thoroughly cleanse the gutters and channels. Where parking is suspended several days notice will be given by means of signage and drivers that leave their cars on site will be subject to parking enforcement. If you would like to nominate a street for such attention, please contact us. The street will be inspected and if found to fail national standards will be programmed for special attention as soon as practically possible.
Complaints about street cleansing or to identify specific problems please contact us.
Last Updated : Wednesday, March 9, 2011 (9:54)
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