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Fly tipping

Fly tipping means illegally dumping rubbish. It ruins our environment, town, parks, and open spaces.

Fly tipping can include:

  • several bags of rubbish
  • large items like sofas or mattresses
  • large piles of debris, for example building materials

General litter - like sweet wrappers, crisp packets, cans, bottles, and cigarette ends - do not count as fly tipping. We'll remove these as part of our normal street cleaning works. You can report problems with litter using the street cleaning and litter Report It form.

What we do about fly tipping

We investigate reports of fly tipping, and prosecute the people responsible when we have enough evidence. The maximum court fine for fly tipping is £50,000.

An Environmental Enforcement Officer will investigate all fly tipping reports within 2 working days. Normally we'll remove fly tipping from land we maintain within 3 working days following the investigation.

What we need to know when you report it

To help us catch those responsible for fly tipping, we need as much information as possible when you report it to us.

The people responsible

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If you know who's responsible, tell us what you know about them - for example, their name, address, or car registration.

The more information we have, the easier it is to catch and prosecute them.

The location

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When you make a report, please give us the exact location.

When you're reporting it online, it's easy to use our map to pinpoint the location. If you're struggling to use the map, you can type in the address instead.

If you don't know the location, give us as much information as possible so we can work out where it is. For example:

  • the nearest property number or name
  • street light number
  • road junction

Photos

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If you have any photos, please send these with your report.

Photos of the rubbish being dumped, for example from a CCTV camera outside your home or business, can help us identify the people responsible.

Photos of the rubbish which has been dumped are also helpful, so we know how much of it there is.

Report fly tipping now

You can tell us about fly tipping using Report It.

If you have CCTV footage of fly tipping and would like to share with us, you can email it to evidence@middlesbrough.gov.uk.

We may need to use your identity and the footage for enforcement purposes, including prosecution of offenders, and we may need to share this information with the courts or other law enforcement agencies such as Cleveland Police. For more information about how we use your data for community safety purposes, please read the community safety privacy notice.

Please note this email address is only for sending us CCTV footage. To report a problem, you'll still need to use Report It (above).