Once fully implemented the digital waste tracking service will require certain information about waste movements to be entered before the movement, followed by confirmation that a waste carrier has collected it and confirmation that it has been received at a waste receiving site.

If these confirmations are not provided, then this will highlight to regulators that this waste may have been ‘lost’ and potentially mismanaged. They can then act accordingly to investigate this.

This transparency and near real time data will reduce the opportunities for organised waste criminals to operate; making it much harder to commit waste crime such as fly-tipping.

Digital waste tracking is one of the major structural reforms being implemented under the Waste Crime Action Plan to design waste crime out of the system and will apply to waste operators in all areas of the UK. Defra is leading the delivery of the Action Plan, working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) as the national lead for waste crime, alongside HMRC, the Home Office, police forces and local authorities, ensuring coordinated action.

The EA is working diligently with Defra and the other regulators and governments of the four nations to engage with the waste industry, local authorities and affected parties. This is in addition to working to develop a range of measures that cover preventative actions, faster identification of illegal activity and robust enforcement actions to maximise the potential of Digital Waste Tracking and combat waste crime across the country.

The Waste Crime Action Plan sets out that we will work closely with the Ministry of Justice and their partners to explore whether penalties for waste criminality reflect the severity of the crime, and if not, what more can be done to ensure that those who commit these offences will face appropriate punishment.  Any changes will build on the existing penalties regime.

This best practice guidance was published on 26 February 2026. No assessment has yet been made of its effectiveness.

National Fly-Tipping statistics for England for 2024/25 were published in February and can be found at: Fly-tipping statistics for England, 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK

The data is published at local authority level, regional and national level.

Local authorities are responsible for handling fly-tipped waste on public land that is less than 20 tonnes or a tipper load of waste.

The Environment Agency focuses on large-scale illegal waste activity and will use the £45 million to strengthen enforcement capability, including operational capacity, partnership working and digital tools.

The Government’s Waste Crime Action Plan sets out a strengthened enforcement response, including an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency (EA) over the next three years to expand on-the-ground enforcement activity. It also establishes a new Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit which will integrate satellite, drone, financial and criminal data to identify risks earlier and accelerate action. Further actions include introducing police‑style powers for EA officers, expanding the use of restriction notices to halt harmful activity quickly, and strengthening the use of permit suspensions and revocations where serious risks or breaches are identified.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 June 2026 for PQ UIN 6746.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 June 2026 for PQ UIN 6745.

In England, a range of legislation provides strong protections for wildlife species and their habitats. Key frameworks such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA) and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 make it an offence to deliberately harm, disturb or otherwise interfere with protected species, except where permitted under licence.

In practice, this means development and land management activities must account for protected species at an early stage and either avoid impacts or, where necessary, secure appropriate mitigation and licensing. These frameworks are designed not to prevent activity outright, but to ensure that impacts on wildlife are minimised and that long-term recovery and sustainability are supported.

If a developer is investigated and found to have committed an offence under the WCA then they can get up to a six-month prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine. Wildlife crime is unacceptable. Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime and directly assists law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is providing £530,000 to the Unit in 2026/27.

On 20 March the Government published its Waste Crime Action Plan, a major step up in its efforts to tackle waste crime. The Plan commits Defra to working closely with the Ministry of Justice to explore what more could be done to ensure that those who illegally dump waste are appropriately punished. Furthermore, the Crime and Policing Act, which received Royal Assent at the end of April, strengthens deterrence by enabling courts to endorse driving licences with penalty points for fly tipping offences involving vehicles, making it more difficult for repeat offenders to continue to dump waste illegally.

As of 5 June 2026, the Environment Agency has issued seven prohibition notices to exporters that failed to comply with the requirement to provide post-shipment information within the revised sixteen-week deadline.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not currently record information on a central system or in a way that allows it to identify how many exporters and brokers issued with a warning notice have come into compliance. The EA is updating its processes to enable this information to be captured in future.

In the last five years, the Environment Agency (EA) has secured 6 prosecutions, accepted 3 enforcement undertakings and served 1 fixed penalty notice. In addition, 35 warning letters and 169 formal advice and guidance letters have been issued for lower-level offences.

The EA takes a range of enforcement actions in response to illegal and misclassified waste exports, using a proportionate, risk-based approach set out in its Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.

The EA has prevented nearly 235,000 tonnes of waste from being exported unlawfully in the last 5 years. Enforcement is targeted at the most serious cases, particularly those involving hazardous, misdescribed or contaminated waste. In March 2026 a company and its director were ordered to pay more than £142,000 for illegally exporting contaminated plastic waste to Malaysia.

The Government has not assessed the consistency of enforcement action by local authorities (LAs) or whether LAs have sufficient resources for enforcement in relation to littering or graffiti offences.

LAs have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders. Anyone caught littering or doing graffiti may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and fines of up to £2,500 on conviction. Instead of prosecuting, LAs can issue a fixed penalty (on-the-spot fine) of up to £500.

To support LAs to consistently, proportionately and effectively use litter enforcement powers, including fixed penalty notices, the Government has recently published new Statutory Guidance, Litter enforcement powers: when and how to use them. LAs will need to have regard to this guidance when using their powers.

Advisory guidance on managing graffiti and flyposting for LAs and businesses is available here. The guidance outlines the options available for tackling these issues with examples of good practice.

The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of existing statutory guidance on litter and graffiti enforcement in improving public perceptions of safety. The Government recognises that litter and graffiti can have a detrimental impact on local environmental quality and can affect how safe people feel in their communities.

Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter, refuse and graffiti.

Advisory guidance on managing graffiti for local councils and businesses is available here.

The guidance outlines the options available to local councils and others for tackling these issues with examples of good practice.

The Government has not assessed the consistency of enforcement action by local authorities (LAs) or whether LAs have sufficient resources for enforcement in relation to littering or graffiti offences.

LAs have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders. Anyone caught littering or doing graffiti may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and fines of up to £2,500 on conviction. Instead of prosecuting, LAs can issue a fixed penalty (on-the-spot fine) of up to £500.

To support LAs to consistently, proportionately and effectively use litter enforcement powers, including fixed penalty notices, the Government has recently published new Statutory Guidance, Litter enforcement powers: when and how to use them. LAs will need to have regard to this guidance when using their powers.

Advisory guidance on managing graffiti and flyposting for LAs and businesses is available here. The guidance outlines the options available for tackling these issues with examples of good practice.

Defra officials are working closely with the Devolved Governments and the national regulators, including the Environment Agency (EA), to ensure that robust plans are in place to scrutinise the accuracy of submissions and to bring into compliance those producers that have not yet registered or reported data. This is supported by more than doubling the number of EA compliance officers working on pEPR. Since the 1 October 2025 submission deadline, the EA and other regulators tracked down and brought more than 2,000 businesses into compliance.

The Waste Crime Action Plan is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We will tighten regulation to close the loopholes criminals exploit, enable tougher enforcement to disrupt and punish them, and direct action to clean up the damage they leave behind.

The Environment Agency (EA) takes a proactive, intelligence led approach to preventing illegal waste activity in Lincolnshire. Through the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership – which includes 24 partner organisations - the EA builds a comprehensive picture of waste crime risks across the county. This early intervention model enables the EA and its partners to identify emerging threats, disrupt criminal behaviour at an early stage, and prevent many potential illegal waste sites from becoming established.

Where the EA is made aware of an active illegal waste site, it acts swiftly to halt the activity and, where necessary, put measures in place to mitigate environmental harm. Officers then compile a detailed evidence base, which may include surveillance, document seizure, witness statements and digital or financial analysis, before determining the appropriate enforcement action.

Thanks to this proactive approach, only 27 illegal waste sites in Lincolnshire required enforcement action in 2024/25; without it, this figure would almost certainly have been significantly higher.