Once a property or site becomes vacant, the risk of fly-tipping incidents on that land increase massively. During holiday periods, particularly Christmas, households accumulate more waste and packaging and also replace household appliances more often than normal. This all leads to a higher rate of fly-tipping incidents throughout the UK.
According to an article from The Guardian – “From March 2020 to March 2021 in England, 1.13m fly-tipping incidents were dealt with by local authorities, an increase of 16% on the 980,000 reported in the previous year, according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday. Higher numbers of incidents were reached in 2007-09, but the way the data is collated has changed, so direct comparisons with years before 2018 are not possible.
Despite the increase in numbers, the number of enforcement actions went down over the period, with only 456,000 actions taken, compared with 474,000 in the year 2019-2020.”
Fly-tippers tend to be opportunists who scour local places looking for quiet or abandoned areas in which to dump their waste, and vacant properties are the ideal location. Once your property receives a fly-tipping incident, there is usually a knock-on effect where the sight of abandoned rubbish tends to lead others to follow suit and before you know it, you are left with a significant and costly problem.
Fly-tipping isn’t just an unsightly issue, it’s also a significant health and safety hazard as piles of abandoned waste will certainly attract rats and other vermin looking for food or material for nesting. Particularly during the autumn and winter months, rats move indoors to keep warm and hoard food within properties, so it’s very important to ensure that all waste is kept to a minimum to avoid infestation. With the ongoing pandemic and the increase in vacant properties, rat and mice infestations are on the rise causing significant damage to buildings, electrics and pipework whilst also posing a serious health and safety threat.