Kent 'drowning in mountains of waste' due to fly-tipping
BBCFly-tipping is placing a "significant environmental, financial and operational burden" on public services, a council has said.
A report for Kent County Council's scrutiny committee described the impact of waste crime on services, landowners and communities in the county.
Nearly 23,000 fly-tips were reported in 2024-25 across the council area, according to the report – 2,000 more than the previous year but down from a peak of 25,000 in 2020-21.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said landowners, who must pay to clear dumped rubbish on their property, had now "had enough".
CLA South East director Tim Bamford said that the county was "drowning in mountains of waste" and was increasingly targeted by violent "organised crime gangs".
"It's not just litter blotting the landscape but tonnes of household and commercial waste which can often be hazardous, even including asbestos and chemicals, endangering wildlife, livestock, crops and the environment," he said.
"Farmers are victims yet have to pay clean-up costs themselves."
Borough and district councils in Kent are responsible for the collection of waste dumped in public areas and the county council must dispose of it, according to Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Kent County Council disposed of 2,503 tonnes of fly-tipped waste in 2024-25, according to the report.
The authority said it would require "significantly more resources invested into the system" to get on top of the problem.
A House of Lords report committee recommended in October that an independent inquiry into how "endemic" waste crime was tackled.
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