Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of rubbish or bulky items on land not licensed to receive it. Fly-tipping can be dangerous, pollutes land and waterways and costs the council tax payer significant amounts of money to clear away.

Dumping household, industrial and commercial waste illegally is a serious criminal offence that carries a fine of up to £20,000 (unlimited if the case goes to the Crown Court) or an offender can even be sent to prison. It is also an offence to permit fly-tipping. Torfaen Council treats this problem very seriously and will usually prosecute anyone caught fly-tipping waste.

Fly-tipping is often associated with dumping waste from vehicles; in this case the person who owns the vehicle can also be prosecuted, which means that it is possible for a prosecution to occur when only the vehicle, not the driver, is identifiable. The police also have the powers to seize vehicles used for fly-tipping.

Torfaen County Borough Council will try to remove fly tipped material as soon as possible, where it is on Council owned land. The speed with which we can respond is governed by the amount of work and the equipment necessary to get the job done, as well as any environmental health hazard, but generally requests are dealt with as soon as we possibly can. Torfaen CBC will not be responsible for removing all waste, this can depend on the type of waste and also the status of land.

Where waste is fly tipped on private land it is the responsibility of the land owner to arrange its collection and disposal.

Torfaen Council provides a waste disposal site and a recycling centre where you can safely and legally dispose of unwanted items.

If you discover fly-tipped waste

Do not:

• touch the waste - it may contain syringes, broken glass, asbestos, toxic chemicals or other hazardous substances
• disturb the site; there may be evidence that could help identify the fly-tippers and lead to their prosecution

Do:

• visually try to work out what the waste consists of and how much there is 
• make a note of the day, date and time you saw the tipping, its exact location and whether it is in or near water

If you see someone fly-tipping make a note of:

• how many people are involved and what they look like
• what has been tipped - how much and what it looks like 
• details of any vehicles involved including make, colour and registration number if possible

Report fly-tipping to the council 

To report incidents of fly-tipping or to report fly-tipped waste contact Torfaen Council on 01495 762200 or alternatively visit one of the Customer Care Centres and provide as much detail as possible. You can also report fly-tipping online.

Your flytipping reports

This map shows the incidents of flytipping that have been reported and cleared from council land in the past 30 days. (Please note the map does not currently work on Safari)