London has the highest rate of fly-tipping in the country at more than twice the English average.
The capital saw more than 440,000 fly-tipping incidents in 2024, with 50 incidents of fly-tipping per every 1,000 residents.
Croydon was the worst affected borough in London and England when ranked by the total number of incidents.
A total of 35,470 incidents of fly-tipping was reported in the past year.
The borough’s larger population and size, being the most populous in London and one of the largest geographically, contribute to its high total of incidents.
This was closely followed by Camden and Hackney with 34,786 and 33,464 incidents, respectively.
Islington was the London borough with the least number of fly-tipping reports, standing at just 1,347 reports.
TOG24 has used FOI (Freedom of Information) requests to get data from each UK council to see which has the worst incidents of fly-tipping.
The requests revealed that Croydon saw more fly-tipping than any other place in the UK in the year 2023-24, having dealt with 38,163 incidents.
This is more than 10 times the national average of 3,249.
Councils across the UK spend an average of £118,000 on fly-tipping clearances.
Croydon Council spent more than nine times that, spending over £1,099,594 on clearing fly-tipped rubbish.
English councils handled a record 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents last year, marking a six per cent rise from the previous year’s 1.08 million and the highest level recorded since the current reporting system was introduced six years ago.
Household waste accounted for 60 per cent of cases, with 688,000 incidents involving illegally dumped rubbish from homes.
This ranged from black bin bags to shed clearances, discarded furniture, carpets, and DIY materials.
The most common locations for fly-tipping were pavements and roads, making up 37 per cent of incidents.
Nearly a third of cases involved waste equivalent to a small van load, while 28 percent involved waste equal to a car boot’s worth or less.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence in the UK, causing serious environmental harm and posing risks to public health and safety.
Offenders can face fines of up to £50,000 or imprisonment for up to five years.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “Fly-tipping is a disgraceful act which trashes communities and its increase is unacceptable.
“Communities and businesses shouldn’t have to put up with these crimes.”
Adam Hug, environment spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: “Councils are working tirelessly to counter the thousands of incidents every year and are determined to crack down on the problem.”
We have approached Croydon Council for a comment.
