Litter is waste that does not exceed 50 litres. Littering is unlawfully depositing litter.
Depositing includes:
- burying or burning waste
- when waste is blown from a premises, place, vehicle or trailer.
It's not littering when you:
- put it in a bin that's provided for waste
- put it on your property in such a way that it cannot escape
- lose it by accident and cannot retrieve it.
The Environment Protection Act 2017 and Environment Protection Regulations 2021 identify types of litter that are dangerous. Examples include:
- oil, fuel, grease, paint and solvents
- a lit cigarette or lit cigarette butt
- glass
- a syringe
- electronic waste.
Littering and the law
Under the general environmental duty, you must eliminate or reduce the risk of harm to human health and the environment from your activities. This includes making sure that your waste does not become litter.
It’s illegal to litter, and you can be fined. The fines for dangerous litter are higher.
So far as reasonably practicable, it's illegal to:
- leave advertising material on vehicles or anywhere it can be blown away
- leave advertising material in mailboxes with a ‘No junk mail’ sign
- fix posters to buildings in public places
- allow waste to escape from your property and become litter
- allow part of your load to escape from your vehicle or trailer
- litter from a vehicle.
If your litter is waste from your business, you may have breached your waste duties. You need to understand your waste duties and obligations.
Litter laws are enforced by litter enforcement officers and litter authorities. Litter enforcement officers investigate and take enforcement action for certain litter and waste offences. Bodies with the power to appoint these officers include:
- EPA (us)
- councils
- government departments
- statutory authorities.
Our role in littering
We act when you report someone littering from a vehicle to us. We investigate and can fine companies and individuals who litter from a vehicle.
We support councils and other litter authorities to enforce litter laws. This includes our publication Regulating litter and other waste.
Impact of littering on human health and the environment
Littering can:
- cause pollution
- impact people's health
- threaten wildlife
- affect the amenity of our communities.
Littering has environmental and health risks. It can:
- attract pests that then damage the environment
- produce odour
- wash into waterways and be eaten by aquatic animals
- harm people's health if dangerous, toxic or hazardous.
Around 73% of our litter fines are for discarded cigarette butts. A burning cigarette butt is a serious fire hazard, particularly if thrown from a car.
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