While the figures only cover incidents dealt with by councils on public land such as streets and alleyways, housing estates, parks and car parks, Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president Victoria Vyvyan said rural communities are also being targeted for fly-tipping on private land.
Countryside leaders warned the problem was even greater than the figures suggest as they only include rubbish dumped on public land, while farmers and rural businesses face stress, disruption and “staggering” costs to clear up waste illegally left on private land.
George Williams, a rural business owner in the West Midlands, said he deals with fly-tipping on his land almost every week, with waste ranging from animal carcasses to cannabis waste and 60 tonnes of plastic dumped by a criminal gang.
Local councils dealt with a record 1.15 million incidents of fly-tipping last year, a 6% increase on the previous year, figures show.
But Adam Hug, environment spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: “Councils are working tirelessly to counter the thousands of incidents every year and are determined to crack down on the problem.”.
