What is fly tipping?

prowla

Is there a notice on the bin detailing how it may be used?

TELLIT01

bris said:

Fly tipping is disposing rubbish anywhere you are not supposed to.

It's not just disposal of rubbish.  We have a number of charity shops near us and they all have notices in the window warning people not to leave donations outside when they are shut, because that is classed as fly tipping.

TELLIT01

Sandtree said:

Outside our development is a bus stop and next to that bus stop is a public rubbish bin.  Our neighbour has received a fine for fly tipping with photos showing him coming out holding a bottle and a pasty or something and disposing them in the bin. The rest of the video would have shown him sitting at the bus stop, finishing off the food/drink and then throwing the empty packaging away.

The council letter states that bins are not to be used for the disposal of domestic waste and as such its fly tipping and the fairly modest fine stands.

Is there a formal definition of fly tipping? Would using a bin near your front door for such purposes fall within it?

Maybe they should appeal and ask how far it is necessary to walk from your home and wait at a bus stop before you are allowed to use the rubbish bin?

prowla

The government guidance to councils is given at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fly-tipping-council-responsibilities#fly-tipping-your-responsibilities

That page links to this site for advice & details:

http://www.tacklingflytipping.com/aboutfly-tipping/1474

which defines fly-tipping as:

Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste. It can be liquid or solid in nature and can vary in scale significantly from a single bin bag of waste to large quantities of waste dumped from trucks. Fly-tipping differs from littering in that it invariably involves the removal of waste from premises where it was produced with the deliberate aim of disposing of it unlawfully, or as a result of legitimate outlets not being available.

Other sites refer to fly-tipping as the:

illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it

in other words putting it not into a rubbish bin.

Therefore, placing a snack's packaging and a plastic drinks bottle into a public rubbish bin is not fly-tipping.

emmajones1976

I would be going to the press with this one tbh, it sounds absolutely ludicrous.

user1977

DingDongitsKingKong said:

This sounds completely idiotic but unfortunately not unprecedented. Heck I am probably breaking some kind of law right now. So if I walk out of my house with a can of coke and a packet of crisps, consume them and then discard them into a litter bin at a bus stop, I have committed an offence? If so then should bins have instructions on them? Are we allowed to throw things in bins when the bins are wet but the garbage is still dry?

No, it isn't what the law says - it would be as ludicrous as arguing that if you consumed the items immediately after buying them in a shop, they should go in the shop's commercial waste. OP's neighbour should appeal.

pogofish

My understanding is that as well as scale there could to be some kind of "commercial" element for it to be considered fly tipping as opposed to littering - A pal had a run-in with our council when someone used some of his firm's boxes to dump waste in and they went after him because of the address on the box.  It took him some time and effort to convince them that he was not the offender.

Also, who issued the ticket?  Was it the council directly, or a contractor, eg Kingdom Enforcement, who do handle littering/fly tipping enforcement for many local authorities and are well known for playing fast and loose with the regs/guidance in order to issue the highest number of tickets possible.  They of course would be incentivised to issue a fly tipping ticket instead of littering because of the much higher level of penalty, which they retain a significant percentage of.

Also, depending on just where it happened could play a part - if it was a PCSO or similar officer who issued the ticket, fly tipping is one of the relatively few situations where they can operate on private property without a prior access agreement/wayleave.

p00hsticks

TELLIT01 said:

bris said:

Fly tipping is disposing rubbish anywhere you are not supposed to.

It's not just disposal of rubbish.  We have a number of charity shops near us and they all have notices in the window warning people not to leave donations outside when they are shut, because that is classed as fly tipping.

Yes - during lockdown, when charity shops were closed and people were taking the opportunity to have a clear out, there was a trend round our way of people leaving piles of books, childrens toys etc out at their front gate with notices inviting people to take them, and I suspect a good proportion of it just ended up at various locations down the road.....

Sandtree

p00hsticks said:

TELLIT01 said:

bris said:

Fly tipping is disposing rubbish anywhere you are not supposed to.

It's not just disposal of rubbish.  We have a number of charity shops near us and they all have notices in the window warning people not to leave donations outside when they are shut, because that is classed as fly tipping.

Yes - during lockdown, when charity shops were closed and people were taking the opportunity to have a clear out, there was a trend round our way of people leaving piles of books, childrens toys etc out at their front gate with notices inviting people to take them, and I suspect a good proportion of it just ended up at various locations down the road.....

Here too... we also gave away some excess veg from our grow boxes with an amusing conversation being overheard from two old dears wondering how we'd manage to grow so much when its clearly a block of flats

That said, one of our neighbours were a bit optimistic with some really skanky looking trainers in with the mix, they'd have gone years ago had they been mine but they seemed to think someone would want them (though having seen some of the things sold on eBay, then maybe they will)

born_again

Press, local councillors etc. Putting rubbish in a bin can not be classed as fly tipping.

https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/faqs/advice/fly-tipping-and-law?gclid=Cj0KCQiAr5iQBhCsARIsAPcwRONapMcg1ojskfaHwSjhz5yeXDPxx6AlQw_Bk9Fn2hUnxwWP7KTrUwIaAqtoEALw_wcB