Spoils precious green spaces. Dangerous to humans and wildlife. Could contain toxic material or asbestos. Damages the watercourses and soil quality. Ugly eyesore. Local nuisance. Breeding ground for pests such as rats and cockroaches.
Despite all of these negative impacts, local authorities across England had to deal with 976,000 fly-tipping incidents in the year running up to March 2020. In other words, roughly 20,000 people per week on average thought it was a good idea to dump their household or commercial waste on a road, pavement, piece of farmland or another place where they aren’t supposed to.