Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to local authorities of clearing fly-tipped waste.

According to Defra official statistics, in 2023/24, around 4% of fly-tipping incidents dealt with by local authorities in England were of ‘tipper lorry load’ size or larger. For these incidents, the cost of clearance to local authorities was £13.1 million. Local authorities do not report clearance costs for smaller incidents. These statistics are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england

According to independent research published by the Environmental Services Association in 2021, the estimated national cost of fly-tipping to the economy has increased from £209 million in 2015 to £392 million in 2018/19. A more recent assessment has not been made.