- Just 0.35% of recorded fly-tipping incidents in Norfolk resulted in a penalty in 2024-25, the lowest rate in the East of England
- Essex penalised offenders at more than eight times Norfolk’s rate (2.91% against 0.35%), pointing to a significant regional disparity in enforcement
- PSH Environmental is calling for greater council resources to enforce tougher penalties, alongside better use of responsible private operators to expand local recycling and disposal capacity
New analysis of official figures by Norfolk waste and recycling operator PSH Environmental has found that fly-tippers in the county are less likely to face a fine or prosecution than anywhere else in the East of England, with fewer than four in every thousand recorded incidents resulting in a formal penalty.
Norfolk’s district councils recorded 17,885 fly-tipping incidents in 2024-25, issuing only 59 fixed penalty notices and four prosecutions between them, according to PSH Environmental’s analysis of Defra figures. That equates to a penalty rate of 0.35%, the lowest of any county in the region.
The findings come as the Government prepares to increase the maximum fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping fivefold from £1,000 to £5,000 as part of its crackdown on waste crime. While the tougher penalties have been welcomed, the National Farmers’ Union has warned that higher fines must be backed by properly resourced local authorities if they are to catch and deter offenders.
For the East of England as a whole, 1.45% of incidents resulted in a fine or prosecution, four times Norfolk’s rate, while Essex reached 2.91%. PSH Environmental described the disparity as a “postcode lottery” and called for stronger enforcement backed by greater council resources and investment in local waste infrastructure.
Nationally, councils recorded 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents in 2024-25, the latest full year available, up 9% on the previous year.
PSH Environmental has operated in Norfolk for more than 40 years and works alongside local authorities to process household waste responsibly. The Rackheath-based firm said the figures underlined the scale of the challenge and the need for a more coordinated response.
PSH Environmental also works directly with Norfolk County Council on the front line of the problem. Local authorities collect fly-tipped waste and deliver it daily to PSH’s Rackheath site via dedicated vehicles, where it is received and transferred before going on for onward recovery.
Daniel Parker, Director at PSH Environmental, said: “Increasing the maximum fine to £5,000 sends the right message, but the size of the penalty only matters if offenders are actually caught and penalised.
“The figures point to a genuine postcode lottery. Councils are working hard under real resource pressure, but when offenders in parts of Essex are penalised at far higher rates than in Norfolk, it raises serious questions about consistency, weakens deterrence, undermines public confidence and costs taxpayers more money.
“Enforcement is part of the answer, but infrastructure matters too. If we want less waste dumped illegally, we need better local capacity to deal with it properly. That is why we keep investing in our own processing capacity, recovering more material for reuse and building on our record of diverting 100% of skip waste from landfill for six years running. In the long term, legitimate disposal has to be the easier option.”
The analysis suggests the gap between the scale of the problem and the formal response is widening. Across the East of England, recorded incidents rose by more than half between 2018-19 and 2024-25, from 64,354 to 100,727, while the combined number of fines and prosecutions rose by just eight, from 1,452 to 1,460.
Fly-tipping imposes a direct clean-up cost on councils and landowners, with taxpayers ultimately carrying much of the burden. The data shows that clearing the largest fly-tips, those of a tipper-lorry load or more, cost councils in England an estimated £19.3 million in 2024-25, including more than £72,000 in Norfolk. As these incidents account for only around 1.4% of recorded cases in Norfolk, the full cost across all fly-tipping is likely to be considerably higher.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Councils have been able to issue fixed penalty notices for it since May 2016. The maximum penalty was increased from £400 to £1,000 in 2023 and is now set to rise to £5,000 under new legislation announced by the Government in July.
Councils take a range of other action against fly-tipping, including investigations, warning letters and statutory notices, with such interventions running into the hundreds of thousands nationally each year.
The findings come amid growing national concern over the deterrent effect of penalties. The Local Government Association has warned that fines handed down by courts, which averaged £539 last year according to Defra, are frequently lower than the fixed penalties councils issue directly, undermining enforcement and leaving councils out of pocket after lengthy investigations. The association has called for sentencing guidelines to be reviewed.
PSH Environmental said deterrence and disposal capacity had to advance together, with stronger council enforcement supported by better data sharing between authorities and the responsible processing infrastructure needed to handle waste legitimately, if the problem was to be meaningfully addressed. The call comes as landfill tax rose again in April 2026, further increasing the financial case for sufficient legitimate local capacity to handle waste responsibly and keep it out of the ground.
