As part of its responsibilities, the Waste Enforcement Unit:
- investigate waste offences/antisocial behaviour, for example, littering, fly-tipping, dumped waste, breach of duty of care and incorrect presentation of waste
- issue fixed penalty notices for these offences
- serve notices to land owners requiring clearance of private land
- inspect businesses for trade waste arrangements
- stop and search patrols with police
- prosecute offenders for waste offences
- undertake education initiatives, for example, providing educational workshops to school children about waste and recycling
- utilise environmental enforcement officers, from our approved supplier Kingdom Local Authority Support (Kingdom LAS)
- use CCTV units to investigate waste offences
Fixed penalty notices (FPN)
The Waste Enforcement team and Kingdom LAS will issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs). FPNs will be issued for antisocial behaviour and waste offences, such as spitting, dropping litter and fly-tipping.
You may receive an FPN on the spot or by post.
If you are issued an FPN, it is an opportunity for you to discharge your liability to prosecution. This means that whilst it is not an admission of your guilt, you admit that an offence has been committed and that by paying the sum of money specified, no further action will be taken by, or on behalf of the council and the matter will be closed.
If you pay your FPN there is no opportunity to seek a refund.
Appealing a fixed penalty notice
There are no legal grounds to appeal an FPN. However, you can make a representation against the Notice up to 14 days after it has been issued.
The following reasons will not be accepted as grounds to make a representation against an FPN:
- You did not know the law and did not know it was being enforced
- This was the first time you committed the offence
- Previously committing the offence without receiving a penalty or warning
- Lack of signage telling you the law
How to make a representation
While your request is being considered, the FPN will be suspended, which means no further action will be taken until the reviewing officer reaches a final decision.
If you have been issued an FPN by an officer from the council, contact the issuing officer in the first instance, quoting the WK numeric reference number. The details will be on the covering letter of the Notice. Where this can not be resolved, the officer will escalate this to their manager for review.
We cannot consider representations made by FPNs issued by our third party contractor, Kingdom LA Support. You will need to contact them direct at Kingdom LA Support or enfield.council@lasupport.co.uk.
FPNs issued by Kingdom LAS will have a 9-digit reference number, for example, 123456789.
Financial penalty amounts
Depending on the offence, the FPN amount will be different as shown in the table below.
| Type of offence (Environmental Protection Act 1990) | Full amount of FPN | Early repayment amount of FPN (if paid within 14 days) |
|---|---|---|
| S33 Fly-tipping Fly-tipping is illegal dumping of liquid or solid waste on land or in water. The waste is usually dumped to avoid disposal costs. This may include (but is not limited to), dumped waste, including refuse sacks, bulky waste and commercial waste. | £1,000 | £500 |
| S87/S88 Littering This includes dropped litter, including cigarette ends, food wrappers, chewing gum and receipts, and may also include dumped waste. | £500 | £250 |
| S34 Duty of Care - Commercial Waste Business waste must be safely contained and legally disposed of. Businesses may be required to produce documentation about how their waste has been disposed of for a period of up to 2 years by Waste Enforcement Officers. Failure to produce the correct documentation within 7 days will result in an FPN. | £300 | No discount |
| S34 Duty of Care - Household Waste Requires occupiers of domestic property to take all reasonable measures available to ensure that they only transfer household waste produced on that property to an authorised person. | £600 | £500 |
| S46 Presentation and Storage of Waste - Residential | £60 | No discount |
| S47 Presentation and Storage of Waste - Commercial | £110 | No discount |
| Breach of s80 Environmental Protection Act 1990 - Commercial | £400 | £240 |
| Breach of s80 Environmental Protection Act 1990 - Individual | £100 | £60 |
| Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) | £100 | No discount |
| Council Byelaw (s235 Local Government Act 1972 and s15 London Local Authorities Act 2004) Spitting | £80 | £50 |
| Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 Graffiti and Flyposting | £500 | £250 |
| Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 - Breach of a Community Protection Notice | £100 | No discount |
Vehicles involved in fly-tipping
When investigating fly-tipping from a vehicle, Waste Enforcement Officers issue an enforcement notice which requires information from the registered keeper who was driving the vehicle on the given date and time. The registered keeper has 7 days to respond to the enforcement notice. It is an offence not to respond to this notice. The outcome of this notice may result in a fixed penalty notice, prosecution and/or seizure of vehicle involved.
Seizure of vehicles
By law we can seize a vehicle, trailer or mobile plant and its contents if it is:
- used for fly-tipping
- driven by someone who is not registered as a waste carrier
- used to transfer waste to someone who is not registered as the waste carrier.
When we seize a vehicle, a legal vehicle seizure notice will be published on our website within one day of seizing the vehicle.
We also tell the police and the registered owner in writing.
We can hold seized vehicles for 15 working days while we investigate. If we have started a prosecution, we may keep the vehicle for the duration of the prosecution.
Vehicle seizure notices
For people making a claim for the seized item, we'll display vehicle seizure notices here for 15 working days from the notice date.
Vehicle seizure notice EJ56 VRM-WK224078693 (PDF, 156.97 KB)
Businesses disposing of rubbish
Businesses have a legal responsibility to safely contain and legally dispose of any rubbish they produce.
Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Regulation 35 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, Waste Enforcement Officers can give a notice to a business requiring them to provide records and copies of:
- written descriptions of their waste
- waste transfer notes
- receipts
If a business fails to produce the correct documentation within 7 days, a fixed penalty notice will be issued.
Education in schools
Many schools across Enfield have been visited by waste enforcement and waste services to deliver workshops on littering and fly-tipping as well as the 5Rs (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle).
In these workshops, the focus is on educating children about what to do with their waste and discovering innovative ways to reuse household items instead of throwing them away. We also discuss the consequences of fly-tipping and the penalties associated with it.
A number of displays and stalls are set up in the playground so that parents can ask questions about recycling and waste reduction or concerns they may have about fly-tipping.
As part of our recycling initiative, we have also set up a recycling champions group for schools. This group will enable children to tell us what they would like us to offer. We want to continue to engage with children so that they can build a relationships with us.
Incorrectly presented waste
Waste can sometimes be put out incorrectly. This is usually when:
- it is put out on the wrong day
- it is put out after collections have happened
- it is left in the wrong place for collection
- there are items that cannot be collected
When this happens, it can lead to:
- a lower quality in the local environment
- changes to the way people feel about their street
- litter from split sacks with more animals scavenging
If waste is incorrectly presented, we will issue a Notice under s46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
If the Notice is ignored, this may result in a fixed penalty notice being given for the offence(s).
CCTV
Challenges with using CCTV
We use re-deployable CCTV cameras to help capture and deter fly-tipping. The cameras monitor areas that we have identified as hot spots due to known issues in these locations.
In order to issue a fixed penalty notice, we must be able to identify the individual(s) who illegally dumped the rubbish, including their place of residence or business address. We will knock on doors in the local area to try and identify who the individual(s) are. However, it is not always possible to do so.
If you know the identity and addresses of people who illegally dump rubbish, we welcome your reports, including photographs or video evidence.