Officials could gain police-style powers to tackle fly-tippers

Environment Agency officials could gain police-style powers to help them crackdown on fly-tipping and the illegal dumping of waste in England, the government has said.

Ministers say they are looking at allowing environment officers to search premises without a warrant, seize assets and arrest those suspected of criminality.

The EA currently brings prosecutions and in the last year there have been 10 immediate custodial sentences and the shut down of over 1,000 illegal waste sites. But the government believes more could be done with new powers.

The announcement comes ahead of the release of the government's Waste Crime Action Plan next week.

Currently, fly-tipping is a criminal offence, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Under new legislation, people caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally will face up to five years in prison.

Ministers are looking to expand powers for the Environment Agency and its enforcement officers under existing legislation including the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the government is "taking decisive action" to "stop waste criminals in their tracks and bring those responsible swiftly to justice".

Ministers would look to introduce the changes when parliamentary time allows, she added.

It comes as new measures were proposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Saturday that could see drivers in England, Scotland and Wales given penalty points on their licences if caught fly-tipping. Licence holders can be disqualified from driving if they build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of three years.

Environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy says fly-tipping is defined as the illegal deposit of any waste on to land that does not have a licence to accept it and costs councils millions of pounds each year to clear up.

The Environmental Services Association estimates, the cost to the economy to tackle the waste was around £1bn a year in England.

According to government figures from the year 2024 to 2025, councils in England dealt with 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents, of which 62% involved of household waste.