Fly-tipping: Causes, Incentives and Solutions - Keep Britain Tidy

Fly-tipping: Causes, Incentives and Solutions
Availability and ease of use
Cost emerges as an issue not only in relation to direct charges but also to the
time it takes to use tips - travelling to the tip, getting weighed in, unloading
waste, getting weighed out, and getting to the next job.
“It takes time, plus you have to pay for it”
This can impact on the earnings of a small business, especially a ‘one man’
business, and fly-tipping becomes an option which some choose to take. Two
interviewees believed that increasing the availability of tips locally will make it
much more likely that people are going to use them.
“The more localised the facility the more likely it is to be used.”
“I think there should be more rubbish bins and dumps around.”
When asked what would prevent fly-tipping one interviewee answered “better
collection services [domestic], and more dumps.”.
Queues outside tips can also present a cost to small businesses. One
interviewee fly-tipped because the queue was too long at the local tip and he
needed to clear his vehicle for the next job of the day. He decided to fly-tip.
The opening times of local tips was also mentioned as an issue and potential
obstacle to their use. For example, often tips will close at 3.30pm in the winter
because of daylight hours. Many interviewees, however, would work beyond
this time and need their vans free to complete the days work as well as to
start a new job the next morning.
“I think opening hours are an issue.”
“The dumps could be open longer.”
Another interviewee stated that his local tip operated restricted opening hours
for commercial vehicles, so that it was not available until 3pm. This could
mean being unable to tip waste and empty the vehicle, and therefore continue
with the days work.
Knowing where the tips are
Interviewees highlighted the lack of information about local commercial tipping
facilities and this was indeed supported by the researchers own experiences
in talking to local authorities, many of whom also did not know where all the
available commercial tip sites were.
“It’s not commonly known where people [businesses] can go to dispose
of recyclable waste”
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