Fly-tipping has risen to its highest level for five years and councils are now spending £50 million a year clearing up waste illegally dumped on roadsides, footpaths and other public spaces.
There were 900,000 incidents of fly-tipping in England in the year to April, up from 850,000 in the previous 12 months. It was the third year running that the number of incidents rose.
The increase is thought to be partly due to people trying to avoid paying charges introduced by some councils at recycling centres. Cornwall council recorded an increase of a third in fly-tipping after introducing such charges.
Almost half of all fly-tipping involved rubbish dumped on highways and nearly a third consisted of a “van load” of illegal waste.
Local councils carried out almost 515,000 enforcement actions against fly-tippers, costing an estimated £17.6 million, up £300,000 from the previous year.
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Of the ten councils with the most incidents of fly-tipping, eight were in London. The other two were Manchester and Liverpool city councils, statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed. The Isles of Scilly had no recorded fly-tips.
Defra said that some of the increase could be the result of councils keeping better records.