More than 70 councils across the UK failed to issue a single fine for littering last year, according to data from the Clean Up Britain campaign. A further 67 councils issued fewer than 10 fines, prompting the campaign to accuse local authorities of allowing littering to go unpunished.
John Read, founder of Clean Up Britain, described the situation as “eco-anarchy” and said people could drop rubbish “with complete impunity”. The data, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, revealed that only 77 of the 301 councils that responded issued more than 100 fixed-penalty notices (FPNs) for littering in 2024-25.
Labour-controlled councils issued 77% of all fines, with the ten councils issuing the most fines all under Labour control. The average fine levied was £192. In total, littering fines amounted to less than £48m from about 200,000 FPNs, compared with £867m in parking fines from 300 councils.
The campaign also found widespread failings in fly-tipping enforcement. While 77,000 people were caught fly-tipping, only 26,000 FPNs were issued, and about half were paid. This resulted in councils collecting only £8.5m, with about £9.3m in lost revenue. Around 30 councils issued no fly-tipping FPNs at all.
The Local Government Association (LGA) highlighted sentencing discrepancies: the average court fine for fly-tipping was £539, lower than the £626 average FPN councils issued. The LGA said this undermined deterrence and left councils out of pocket after costly prosecutions. It called for an urgent review of sentencing guidelines.
Clean Up Britain is lobbying for littering fines to rise from £500 to £1,000, arguing that behavioural change requires a genuine fear of being caught. Fly-tipping cost councils in England over £19.3m to clear up last year, with 1.26m incidents recorded.
