Countryfile reports that fly-tipping and illegal dumping in the countryside is costing £1 billion every year, as a recent report by MPs accuses DEFRA and the Environment Agency (EA) of making slow and piecemeal progress in tackling the “antisocial, polluting and costly impacts” of waste crime

Figures from 2020/21 show that in England alone there were 1.13 million cases of fly-tipping a year (a rise of 16% on the previous year) and just under two-thirds involved household waste.

But only around a quarter of waste crime gets reported and there is still no strategy for achieving the Government’s target of eliminating it by 2043.

According to the House of Commons cross-party public accounts committee report, the cost-of-living crisis is potentially increasing incentives for people to get rid of waste inappropriately.

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Countryfile - John Craven: Countryside waste crime has reached crisis point