Flytipping reports likely to increase by 3000% in 2025

FixMyStreet Reports

There were 18,358 FixMyStreet reports in 2024 and so far in 2025 there have been 13,906 reports (as at 07/06/2025). This is 75% of 2024 reports and we aren't even halfway through 2025 . This increase could be explained by more people reporting problems, and there being more problems to report. Both of these factors probably explain this increase in reporting.

Flytipping Reports

If we look at flytipping reports there were only 328 in 2024 and so far in 2025 there have been 4,267 reports.

This is an increase of 1,300% on 2024 reports. If we extrapolate this number for the whole year we could expect to see an increase of almost 3,000% in 2025.

Flytipping reports have increased across all wards and the ward with the highest number of reports is Lawrence Hill which had 38 flytipping reports in 2024 and 489 so far in 2025.

What could explain this enormous increase in reports?

One factor is likely to be that more people are reporting incidents on FixMyStreet But the explanation is more likely to be an increase in flytipping in the City of Bristol.

Here are some possible explanations for this increase:

"People are feeling better off"

In Alex Seabrook 's BBC News article on this subject he reported Ken Lawson (Head of Waste) as saying:

"We think the cost-of-living suppressed some purchasing and now, with inflation dropping and wages going up a bit, we think we saw an uptick in expenditure towards the end of last year."

He said people were "potentially fly-tipping more" because they "felt a little bit better off".

"We don't have any data on that but nationally and certainly locally when the cost-of-living crisis was fully on, there was a 20% drop in fly-tipping.

"Towards the end of last year it started ticking up again."

This explanation would imply that the increase in flytipping reports is because people are buying more "stuff" and dumping their old items because they are so much better off than they were in 2024. This "feel good factor" is not really a credible explanation.

Recycling Centre Booking System

In May 2022 BCC introduced a booking system for Bristol Recycling Centres instead of people just turning up and queuing. When this system was announced Councillor Richard Eddy raised some concerns:

I truly fear this ill-thought-out booking system will lead to an explosion in citywide fly-tipping. Already, during the Covid pandemic, we have experienced a massive rise in littering and fly-tipping. If Bristolians are forced to accept a booking system where they cannot be assured of taking recyclable items to the tip at a specified time and may be turned away, I can foresee a huge upsurge in Bristolians leaving their waste illegally elsewhere.

This change was introduced in 2022 and does not explain the massive increase in reporting since 2024.

When these changes were introduced the main changes I noticed were that I no longer had to queue anymore. But I have noticed that the there are usually between 5 and 10 empty parking bays when I visit now, which would imply that the centres are not being used to their full capacity.

Recycling Centre Opening Hours

In the 2023/2024 Bristol Waste Business Plan it was made clear that cuts would be made to Recycling Centre opening hours and that charges would be introduced for DIY Waste.

The 3 recycling centres were open 7 days a week from 8am to 4.15pm. They were only closed for 3 days over Christmas and New Year. This amounts to 8,984 total available hours a year.

The opening hours were reduced to 5 days a week, with opening hours of 9am to 5pm on weekdays and 8am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. This amount to 6,240 total available hours a year.

This is a reduction of 30% in opening hours.

Increased Fees

As well as reducing recycling centre opening hours, fees were also introduced or increased for some services.

Bristol 24/7 reported that :

Residents will also be charged for disposing DIY waste at recycling centres. The cost for bulkier items has also increased from £25 for any three bulky items to a proposed per item charge of £25 per sofa or armchair, and £50 for a three-piece suite.

The council said that the decision to charge for residential DIY waste puts the onus of responsibility on the individual household, supporting a “polluter pays” principle.

They hope the changes would encourage residents to reuse materials, donate them or share them with others, as a cheaper alternative to bringing them to the recycling centre.

“The service change will encourage people to think about what they throw away and encourage reuse and recycling,” a Bristol City Council Equality Impact Statement document states.

The Equality Impact Statement didn't mention that these changes were also likely to "encourage people" to flytip. The charge introduced for brining DIY waste to recycling centres.

Charging for DIY waste at Recycling Centres – these charges will affect anyone in the city looking to bring these materials to the recycling centre. However, the scheme is likely to encourage residents to reuse materials, or donate them where possible, which provides a cheaper solution from bringing them to the recycling centre.

DIY waste is defined as being items such as soil, rubble, plasterboard, and asbestos. How many people are going to "reuse" or "donate" these items, unless the Council think that flytipping is a form of "donation". Perhaps this helps to explain the increase in reports of "Asbestos Dumping".

No Replacement Recycling Boxes

As reported by Bristol Live in April:

Councillor Tom Renhard said: “Checking on the council’s website fairly regularly, it’s almost impossible to get a food recycling container at the moment. If we’re going to try and drive up recycling rates, obviously people need to have the containers to recycle in. It seems that we’ve not ordered enough food recycling containers. So people are going to be putting their food waste in the black bin.”

Currently the "Order new bins, boxes and lids" website page has this message: