Sheffield implements new fly-tipping strategy as cases decrease by almost 10 per cent

Members of the waste and street scene policy committee at Sheffield City Council have decided to accept the officers’ recommendation and support the city’s strategy “to build upon and enhance existing measures to tackle fly-tipping”.

According to a report published on the council’s website, DEFRA’s figures show a decrease in overall fly-tipping from 12,366 incidents in 2021-22 to 11,387 in 2022-23 which represents a reduction of approximately 7.9 per cent.

The said strategy proposes a large number of interventions over the next two years based on increasing “education, engagement and enforcement and to reduce environmental inequality in the city”.

At the meeting, members were told that the strategy was “only the starting point” and the work and the leadership around it will matter the most.

The work will include the implementation of a new communication strategy – to further raise awareness of the help the council provides and about the duties of producers of waste, the launching of an environmental improvement toolkit, improving visibility of the process, delivering measures around working better with other services, and prosecuting more offenders.

Based on Defra’s calculations, only 4 per cent of the 1.08 million fly-tipping incidents recorded in England in 2022-2023 were categorised as being large scale (described as a tipper load) – and 60 per cent of all fly tipping was reported to be household waste, a trend which was mirrored in Sheffield.

Data also shows that the majority of fly-tipping is dumped on the highway, council lands and footpaths and bridleways.