Fly-tipping is costing the UK millions in unpaid landfill tax
Fly-tipping is usually viewed as a local issue, with local consequences. A pile of dumped waste appears, the council clears it up, and residents are left frustrated. But there’s a second cost that is rarely mentioned.
When waste is dumped illegally, it never goes through a licensed weighbridge, never enters the legal disposal system, and landfill tax is never paid. The public gets hit twice: councils pay for clean-ups, and the Treasury loses revenue that could support public services.
New analysis by our Waste Management Experts estimates fly-tipping caused a £42,212,824 “landfill tax gap” in 2023-24 alone.
Mark Hall, waste management expert at Business Waste, comments:
A £42m landfill tax gap
in one year
Based on our analysis of Defra fly-tipping incident data and historic landfill tax rates, we estimate:
- £42,212,824 in potential landfill tax revenue was missed in 2023-24 due to fly-tipped waste
- Over the last 12 years, this “tax gap” has been estimated at more than £350m
- Fly-tipping incidents have grown 47% between 2012 and 2024
This is separate from the cost of clearing fly-tipped waste, which councils already have to fund. Put simply, the country pays to deal with the problem, and then loses the tax income that would normally come with legal disposal.
Why does fly-tipping affect
landfill tax?
Landfill tax exists to discourage waste going to landfill and push waste up the hierarchy, towards reuse, recycling, and recovery.
But when waste is dumped illegally:
- It bypasses licensed carriers and disposal sites
- It bypasses weighbridges and reporting
- It bypasses landfill tax completely
That’s why fly-tipping creates a “tax gap”. The waste still exists, and it still needs dealing with, but the legal system never sees it.
London is the biggest hotspot, but the pattern
is national
Here’s what stands out in the latest year of data (2023-24):
- London accounts for around £15.5m, roughly 37% of the total estimated lost landfill tax
- The next highest regions are:
- North West: £7.1m
- Yorkshire and the Humber: £3.7m
- West Midlands: £3.1m
At the lower end, the South West is still estimated at £1.3m, which is hardly small change
London vs the South West
London’s estimated landfill tax gap is more than ten times larger than the South West’s. Different density, different waste volumes, different pressure, but the impact is still the same: illegal dumping creates a cost that ends up on the public balance sheet.
The councils behind the
biggest losses
Looking at individual councils, the largest estimated landfill tax gaps come from a small cluster at the top.
The top three councils are: Newham, Hackney, and Croydon. Together, they account for over £7.5m in estimated lost landfill tax.
Top 10 councils by estimated lost landfill tax (2023-24)
- Newham
- Hackney
- Croydon
- Barking and Dagenham
- Hillingdon
- Brent
- Lambeth
- Merton
- Westminster
- Camden
This doesn’t mean fly-tipping is “a London problem”. It means that when illegal dumping happens at scale in densely populated areas, the financial impact snowballs fast.
Trade waste is causing
disproportionate damage
In 2023-24, fly-tipped commercial waste is estimated to have caused £3,069,944.83 in lost landfill tax revenue across England. This accounts for 97.3% of trade-related landfill tax losses.
Therefore, active business waste is the bigger fiscal issue, not the stereotypical “one-off” builder’s rubble story. This points to where prevention efforts can have the biggest impact: business compliance, waste carrier checks, and clear disposal systems.
If you need clarification on what counts as commercial waste and how it should be handled, explore our guides on general waste collection and waste management.
Why this matters to businesses,
not just councils
If your waste ends up fly-tipped, you’re not automatically “off the hook” just because someone else dumped it.
Businesses have a legal duty of care to ensure their waste is handled correctly, including:
- Using a licensed waste carrier
- Keeping proper waste transfer notes
- Describing waste accurately
- Storing waste securely until collection
If a carrier cuts corners and your waste is traced to an illegal site, enforcement action can still come back to bite you. This is why fly-tipping is not only a council problem. It’s also a governance, procurement, and compliance problem.
What businesses can do now
to reduce risk
These are simple, practical steps that reduce the chance of waste going missing, being mixed incorrectly, or ending up dumped.
Choose the right provider
- Verify your carrier is licensed
- Ask where waste goes, and what happens to it
- Get clarity on fees so there’s no incentive for shortcuts
Tighten your internal controls
- Keep waste locked or secured where possible
- Use clear bin signage so staff don’t contaminate loads
- Make sure you receive and store waste transfer notes
- Review skips and collections during busy periods
If your business generates higher-risk waste streams, consider specialist support where needed.
What councils and policymakers
need to prioritise
Businesses can tighten up their side, but the wider issue also needs a system response.
At a high level, the priorities are:
- Better waste tracking and visibility across the chain
- Quicker action against rogue operators
- Making legal disposal easier to understand and harder to bypass
- Consistent messaging so people know what to do with waste, and what it costs when they do not
The goal is simple: make compliance the easiest option, and make illegal dumping riskier and less profitable.
Closing thought: the “tax gap” is part of
the fly-tipping story now
Fly-tipping already drains council budgets. But this data highlights another less visible drain: missed landfill tax revenue.
When fly-tipping rises, the country does not just pay for clean-up. It also loses funds that would otherwise be captured through lawful disposal.
Mark Hall adds:
Data
The full dataset can be viewed here.
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