News from Caroline Russell: Fly tipping up by nearly 400 per cent

Since lockdown shut household waste and recycling centres across London, residential roads, green spaces and open land have been used as illegal rubbish dumps.

According to figures from the Clear Waste app [1], fly tipping has increased on average by 383 per cent between April and July compared to March.

Much of this waste is likely to be burned rather than recycled due to London’s poor recycling rates. In 2018-19 recycling rates in London were 33.4 per cent, up just 0.3 per cent on the previous year, and well below the 50 per cent target. At the same time, the amount of waste sent by London’s local authorities for incineration increased by nearly three per cent to 58.3 per cent [2].

Caroline Russell AM is calling on the Mayor to deal with the issue at source by reducing overall waste produced in London. In both his Environment Strategy and the new London Plan the Mayor has committed to transitioning to a circular economy. Distinct from a linear economy where materials are produced, used and leftovers thrown away, in the circular economy all materials are kept in use at their highest value for as long as possible and are then reused or recycled, leaving a minimum of residual waste to be incinerated.

Caroline says:

Viral videos of a van upending wood, rubble and plastic on a quiet street in Croydon in July and another of a woman trying to dump furniture outside an Enfield resident’s gate have shocked Londoners. These videos highlight the massive increase in fly tipping across the capital since lockdown.

Although many waste and recycling centres have reopened, fly tipping is still a problem. This may be because people aren’t aware that tips are open again or they find it too much hassle to use new Covid-safe booking systems.

“It is time for the Mayor to set targets on reducing the overall amount of waste produced across London. This will push local authorities to encourage people to use items for longer and reuse or repair them rather than throwing them away. A proper circular economy should lead to less fly tipping as people will see the value in second-hand items.