Kingston Council has joined forces with its recycling and waste collections and street cleansing partner, Veolia, to launch a new initiative designed to crack down on fly-tipping and tackle environmental crime across the borough.

Building on the success of a previous rollout in South London, where 93 per cent of residents surveyed in Kingston stated they would report fly-tipping in the future, this latest iteration focuses on five hotspot locations across the borough: Old London Road, Tolworth Close, Ewell Road, Burlington Road, and Rayleigh Court.

The 'LET'S scrap fly-tipping' campaign will deliver a clear warning about legal liability to potential perpetrators while equipping residents with practical guidance and legal alternatives for managing their waste.

Veolia community engagement teams have already made significant progress across the targeted areas. As part of the launch, almost 900 letters were delivered to households across the five hotspot locations to raise awareness and outline upcoming actions.

Veolia's teams have since been active on the ground to engage directly with residents, pedestrians, local businesses, and charity shops, alongside distributing educational materials.

To date, a large number of leaflets have been handed out, posters have been displayed in local charity shops, and signs have been installed across the hotspots. Cleaning crews are also applying anti-fly-tipping stencils to pavements immediately after clearing incidents.

Kingston Council reports that early results "are encouraging". One of the five hotspot locations recorded no fly-tipping incidents in July, compared with six incidents in June.

The authority said: "Fly-tipping causes severe social, environmental, and economic damage, impacting everyone who lives, works, or visits the borough. Eliminating illegal dumping is essential to building a greener, healthier and happier community for all."

The council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for sustainable transport, waste and recycling, Councillor Nicola Nardelli, said: "Keeping our streets clean, safe and welcoming is a shared responsibility. The Let's SCRAP campaign is an important part of our ongoing work to prevent fly-tipping, educate residents and protect the places we all value.

"Fly-tipping is a blight on our local environment that affects us all, which is why I warmly welcome the launch of the Let's SCRAP fly-tipping campaign in our borough.

"Kingston Council and our partners are committed to preventing illegal dumping and dealing with offenders.

"By taking care of our borough together, supporting these initiatives, educating our community, and ensuring waste is disposed of lawfully, we can protect our beautiful green spaces and maintain neighbourhoods that we can all be proud to live in."

Scott Edgell, Divisional Head of Municipal Operations at Veolia added: "Our street cleansing teams are dedicated to keeping Kingston clean, with over 99% of reported fly-tips cleared within 48 hours this year.

"By combining our operational action with proactive community engagement, we are asking residents to help us reduce fly-tipping and support faster clearance through reporting, to ensure that Kingston remains a clean, green borough."

Alongside raising awareness, Kingston Council says it "takes firm enforcement action against those who break the law".

Earlier this year, a major Environment Agency prosecution saw four members of an illegal waste dumping gang sentenced to prison for a ruthless, large-scale dumping operation across London, with help from the council's environmental services.

They were jailed at Kingston Crown Court back in April.

Key CCTV footage recorded in 2023 at Jubilee Square in New Malden formed a critical part of the evidence presented at Kingston Crown Court, "demonstrating the power of surveillance and cross-agency collaboration in bringing environmental criminals to justice", the council said.

In addition to potential imprisonment and vehicle seizure for major offences, individuals and businesses caught fly-tipping or failing in their waste duty of care face Fixed Penalty Notices starting at £400 for fly-tipping and £300 for commercial waste violations.

Kingston Council added: "To prevent waste from ending up in rogue hands, householders should always ensure they dispose of items responsibly using kerbside recycling services, booking a council bulky waste collection, visiting the Household Reuse and Recycling Centre, or donating directly to charity shops during opening hours rather than leaving items on the street.

"To support residents in keeping their streets clean, Kingston Council has recently upgraded its online fly-tipping reporting process.

"The improvements mean there are fewer steps to report and an optional image upload feature has been added. This extracts geolocation data from photos, enabling street cleansing teams to better locate, investigate, and clear reported fly-tips with greater speed and accuracy."

You can report incidents of fly-tipping via the council's dedicated webpage here.

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