Paying Twice for Rubbish: Read the Shocking Figures!!

How England’s Waste Crisis Is Hitting Working People in the Pocket

Government analysis shows councils in England spent £699 million on street cleaning. Working people in England are paying twice for a waste system that is failing. First through council tax and public spending to clean streets, roads and verges. Then again through rising household charges and reduced services that make legal disposal harder.

Meanwhile littering and fly tipping remain low risk for offenders and high cost for everyone else. These financial pressures are compounded by broader council tax rises and service cuts that are stretching household budgets to the limit.

The numbers are shocking*.

Government analysis shows councils in England spent £699 million on street cleaning in 2018 to 2019. That is around £30 per household every year, simply to keep streets usable. This figure does not include the cost of cleaning major roads, which often falls outside council budgets but still comes from public funds.

Fly tipping is the criminal end of the same problem. In 2023 to 2024, councils in England dealt with 1.15 million fly tipping incidents. That is about 3,150 incidents every day.

Highways were the most common location, with 427,000 incidents, and 60 percent involved household waste. This is not a fringe issue. It is routine, widespread and expensive.

The costliest cases are the biggest dumps. DEFRA data shows around 47,000 tipper lorry scale fly tips in a single year, costing councils £13.1 million just to clear. That money could otherwise fund frontline services. Instead, it is spent picking up rubbish dumped illegally because the system failed to stop it.

Fast food packaging features heavily in litter surveys because it is designed for consumption on the move. Cups, bags and wrappers are discarded from cars or left at junctions and laybys. Campaigners such as Clean Up Britain have highlighted heavily polluted roads including the A38 in Derbyshire. Responsibility is often disputed between councils and National Highways, but the clean-up bill still lands on the public.

At the same time, households are being charged more at the kerbside.

Garden waste subscriptions commonly cost £60 to £80 a year. Bulky waste collections often cost £50 or more for a small number of items. Even where disposal is technically free, booking systems, vehicle restrictions and long waits add friction. Some councils have moved to fortnightly black bin collections, increasing overflow and dumping pressures, especially in flats.

The result is a system that tells people to do the right thing while making it harder and more expensive to do so. Councils then pay again to clear dumped waste. Working people lose twice.

Stephen Morris, General Secretary of the Workers of England Union puts it plainly:

“Working people across England are paying twice, once through council tax for clean ups, and again through rising household charges and reduced services. When legal disposal gets harder and more expensive, dumping gets easier and our communities carry the cost. The WEU stands for fairness. A system that is simple to use, properly enforced, and funded by those who profit from the waste.”

Clean streets should not be a luxury. Our members deserve value for money and a waste system that works for working people, not against them.

Costs at a glance

• £30 per household every year for street cleansing in England
• 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents dealt with by councils in a single year
• £13.1 million spent clearing large-scale fly tips alone
• Extra household charges often £60 to £80 a year for garden waste and £50 or more for bulky collections
• Hidden costs including vermin, blocked drains, damaged public spaces and lost time off work

References

• UK Government (DEFRA), Litter and littering in England 2018 to 2019
• DEFRA, Fly-tipping statistics for England 2023 to 2024
• DEFRA, Fly-tipping enforcement and clearance costs 2023 to 2024

* Overall Cost and incidents in England summary: Street cleansing cost: £699 million per year; Clearance cost of large fly tips: £13.1 million per year; Fly-tipping incidents: 1.15 million per year.