Local authority reported fly-tipping

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Next update expected:October 2026

Updates

5th March 2026

metadata update

24th February 2026
Dataset first published.

Main information

Designation
Official statistics
Data provider
Natural Resources Wales
Data source
Waste Data Flow
Time period covered
April 2006 to April 2025

Overview

Summary of dataset and variables

Summary of fly-tipping incidents, enforcement actions and prosecution outcomes.

Definitions can be found within the guidance on WasteDataFlow (WDF).

The number of incidents by size won't necessarily match the total number of incidents, or the number of incidents by land or waste type, as LAs are not always required to report the size.

Data collection or calculation

The statistics are based on the returns made by local authorities to the WDF database. The statistics do not cover all fly-tipping incidents on private land, and not all incidents of fly-tipping will be reported to the local authority.

It should be noted that prosecutions do not necessarily take place in the same year as the relevant fly-tipping incident occurs. Prosecutions and prosecution outcomes might not always match; see the quality report for more information.

Statistical quality

Care should be taken when interpreting these figures due to changes and improvements in data reporting mechanisms and associated guidance. For example, large annual increases could be due to improved recording procedures.

Preparing for the 2024 to 2025 release, irregularities were found between the figures on WDF and StatsWales. These were due to a combination of factors including human errors, revisions on WDF not replicated on StatsWales, and inconsistencies in use of estimates.

To ensure accuracy and consistency, both WDF and StatsWales have been updated to match to match the latest available data and a consistent approach to estimates where data is missing. This exercise was carried out for the years 2015 to 2016 onwards.

Other imputations include the following:

Where the number of incidents by waste type submitted by local authorities summed to less than their total recorded incidents, the unreported incidents have been included in the Other (unidentified) category.

Where the number of incidents by land type submitted by local authorities summed to less than their total recorded incidents, the unreported incidents have been included in the Other (unidentified) category.

One Local Authority (Cardiff) was unable to provide data for June 2014.

One Local Authority (Flintshire) was unable to provide data for July 2015 to March 2016. Estimates for these months have been used based on data for the previous year.

For 2018-19, Carmarthenshire was unable to provide a breakdown of incidents by land type. For this reason, all incidents in Carmarthenshire have been categorised as 'Other land type (unidentified)'.

3 of the 22 local authorities were unable to provide figures for the 4th quarter, January to March 2020. For these authorities, an estimation for this period has been calculated based on the first 3 quarters of 2019-20 (April to December 2019) and quarter 4 from the previous year (January to March 2019). The Wales totals thus also contain an element of estimation.

Please see the quality report for more information

Related reports

Published by

Organisation
Welsh Government
Contact email
stats.environment@gov.wales