Fly-tipping

Fly tipping is the illegal dumping of items. If your waste is fly tipped, by you or by someone else on your behalf, you could face a £400 fixed penalty notice or an unlimited fine.

You are fly tipping if you leave items:

Beside or street bins or recycling banks
on the floor of communal bin areas
outside closed recycling centres or charity shops
in the alleyway behind your property
anywhere that isn’t a registered waste facility or container

Fly tipping on public land

We are responsible for looking after public land to make sure it is clean and presentable for everyone to enjoy. If you report fly-tipping on any public land such as roads, parks and town centres we will:

Inform the Environmental Improvement Team to investigate – to look for evidence of who the fly-tipped waste belongs to.
Schedule a team to remove the fly-tipped waste within 15 working days of when it was reported to us.
If the waste is hazardous or causing an obstruction which is dangerous, we will remove or make it safe within 24 hours of when it was reported to us. Do not report waste as hazardous or dangerous, unless it clearly contains asbestos, chemical or oil drums, gas canisters, paint, or needles and drug paraphernalia.

Fly tipping on private land

We cannot remove fly-tipping which is on private land. If you see fly-tipping:

On private land; report it to EnvironmentalEnforcement@trafford.gov.uk, but the landowner will need to organise for the waste to be removed
In the Bridgewater canal; report this to the Canal and River Trust
On or near train lines; report this to Network Rail
On or near tram lines; contact Transport for Greater Manchester

If you see somebody fly tipping

Make a note of:

The day, date and time you saw the tipping
How many people were fly-tipping and what they looked like. Any vehicles involved - their make, colour and registration number
What was tipped and how much

You can report fly-tipping on public land to us. If it is on private land you can report this to the relevant organisation.

Did you know?

Our Environmental Improvement Team will actively try to find evidence of people fly-tipping and take action against them. We will also take action to get landowners to clear up rubbish on private land.

The fly-tipping of controlled waste is a serious criminal offence which carries a fine of up to £50,000 (unlimited if indicted to the Crown Court) or an offender can even be sent to prison. It is also an offence to permit fly-tipping.

Vehicle seizure notices for suspected waste crime

We have powers to seize a vehicle, trailer or mobile plant and any contents if it's believed it is being, has been or will be used to commit a waste crime, such as fly-tipping.

Vehicles and their contents can be seized, without a warrant, under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 or the Environmental Protection Act 1990. A vehicle can be seized if:

it has been used in fly-tipping
it is driven by somebody who is not registered as a waste carrier
it is used to transfer waste to somebody who is not registered as a waste carrier
waste has been escaping from the vehicle

Vehicle seizure notices for 2023/24

These notices are issued in accordance with requirements of the Control of Waste (Dealing with Seized Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015. We must make this information available to the public for at least 15 days

Details of vehicles we have seized in the current financial year:

2023/24 WJ08 MVL