Westmorland and Furness Council is teaming up with Keep Britain Tidy for 'Fight Fly-Tipping Fortnight', a campaign warning residents about criminal waste traders who use convincing, professional-looking online ads to pose as legitimate businesses - only to illegally dump the rubbish they are paid to take away.
Fly-tipping costs councils across England millions of pounds every year in clean-up costs, draining money that could otherwise be spent on essential local services. In Westmorland and Furness, the Council responds to reports of all kinds of fly-tipped household items such as sofas, pallets, mattresses, furniture and bicycles.
The campaign calls on people in Westmorland and Furness to protect themselves and their communities from falling for a #RubbishDeal - low-cost, unlicensed services offered using appealing advertisements on social media by organised waste criminals. Rogue waste traders hide in plain sight behind professional-looking adverts, 'five-star' reviews and tempting prices, making it difficult to tell them apart from legitimate operators. What they don't tell you is where your rubbish could end up.
Fight Fly-tipping Fortnight is helping residents know what to look out for and make simple checks before handing over their rubbish to avoid it being illegally dumped on streets, fields and public spaces.
The Council is supporting Fight Fly-tipping Fortnight with a local social media campaign, calling on households to take three simple steps to avoid a #RubbishDeal:
Ask for a waste carrier licence
Check the number on the Environment Agency's public register at https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers or call 0300 065 3000)
Check you'll get a receipt
Councillor Adrian Waite, Westmorland and Furness Council Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Transport, said:
"Fly-tipping takes a real toll on communities like ours. In Westmorland and Furness, we deal with everything from fridges, freezers and furniture to sofas, tyres and insulation dumped in towns and villages, on rural lanes, and left in local beauty spots, damaging the places people live in and care about, and leaving our teams to clear up the mess at the taxpayer's expense.
"Our teams work tirelessly to tackle the problem, but we need our community's help to stop it at the source. No one wants to think that the person they've paid to take away an old sofa, mattress or pile of household rubbish could simply dump it somewhere else in their community. But rogue waste traders are making money from doing exactly that - leaving councils and local residents to deal with the consequences.
"If your waste ends up being fly-tipped, you could face a fine - even if someone else dumped it. This is why we're asking our residents to make three simple checks before handing over their rubbish: ask to see a waste carrier licence, check it on the Environment Agency register and get a receipt. It only takes a few minutes and can help protect you, your community and our local environment from fly-tipping."
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive Officer at Keep Britain Tidy, said:
"Local authorities see first-hand the damage fly-tipping causes, working every day to clear illegally dumped waste and protect the places their communities value. Tackling the problem places huge demands on already stretched council teams, which is why we're so pleased to have Westmorland and Furness Council supporting Fight Fly-tipping Fortnight this year.
"People hiring someone to take away their rubbish should be able to trust that it will be disposed of responsibly. But rogue waste traders are exploiting that trust, taking people's money and then leaving their waste dumped in streets, fields and public spaces for communities and councils to deal with.
"What makes this particularly difficult is that criminals can be surprisingly hard to spot. A convincing advert, good reviews and a cheap price can make an illegal operator look like a legitimate business, leaving people thinking they're paying for their rubbish to be responsibly taken away when it could end up dumped in their own community.
"Our message is simple: don't fall for a #RubbishDeal. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."
Fight Fly-tipping Fortnight will run from 12 – 25 October 2026, with local authorities across the country joining forces with Keep Britain Tidy to highlight the scale and impact of fly-tipping and educate residents on how to protect themselves and their communities.
To report fly–tipping incidents, visit: https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-street-cleaning/street-care-and-cleaning/report-fly-tipping
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
