The New £5,000 Fly-Tipping Penalty: What It Is, and What It Is Not

On 4 November 2026 the Environment Secretary, Dame Angela Eagle, formed a new Waste Crime Crackdown Group. The announcement says rogue actors who dump waste illegally face "fines of up to £5,000". If that figure sounds familiar, it should: £5,000 is also the old, wrong cap on waste duty of care fines that we corrected in August. This is a different £5,000, and the difference matters to any business that hands old equipment to a collector.

This piece sets out what was announced, where the figure comes from in law, what it does not cover, and four checks for businesses passing on IT equipment.

What was announced

The government announcement says the Group brings police, regulators and local leaders together, with one aim: "to shut down the organised waste gangs". Its first meeting is to cover stepping up enforcement and improving how intelligence is shared. The announcement reports 36 arrests since April, more use of drones by Environment Agency officers, and a bigger role for Mayors. It also lists plans, not yet in force, to give the Environment Agency powers to confiscate assets bought with the proceeds of waste crime.

One of the listed actions is "ensuring rogue actors who dump waste illegally or fail to treat it correctly face fines of up to £5,000".

Where the £5,000 comes from

The only £5,000 figure we could trace is in the Environmental Offences (Fixed Penalties) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026, made on 14 July and in force from 1 September 2026. Regulation 3 amends section 33ZA(9)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, replacing "£1000" with "£5000".

Section 33ZA lets an authorised officer of an English waste collection authority offer a fixed penalty to a person they have reason to believe committed a "waste deposit offence", which is the offence of depositing waste unlawfully. The council sets the amount, between £150 and £5,000, or £200 if it sets none. If the person pays within 14 days, they may not be convicted of that offence. Defra's own explainer describes it as the power to issue fly-tipping fixed penalties "up to £5,000".

So the new £5,000 is the top of a range for an on-the-spot penalty, issued by a council to the person who dumped the waste. It is an alternative to prosecution, not a ceiling on what a court can do.

What it is not

Who	Provision	Penalty
Person who unlawfully deposits waste (England)	EPA 1990 s.33ZA, as amended by SI 2026/816 from 1 September 2026	Council-set fixed penalty, £150 to £5,000 (£200 if none set). Pay within 14 days and no conviction for that offence
Householder who passes household waste to an unauthorised person (England)	EPA 1990 s.34ZA	Fixed penalty set by the authority, £150 to £600 (£200 if none set)
Business that fails its duty of care	EPA 1990 s.34(6)	Conviction and a fine. Magistrates' court fines have had no cap since 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85)

The announcement's wording is broader than the regulation: it also mentions rogue actors who "fail to treat it correctly". We did not find a £5,000 figure for that in the provisions we checked (sections 33ZA, 34 and 34ZA, and the 2026 regulations), and the announcement does not cite one. For the duty of care itself, our August article sets out why no £5,000 cap applies in the magistrates' court.

Why a business handing over IT equipment should care

Section 34(1) requires anyone who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste to take reasonable measures "to prevent any contravention by any other person of section 33", and, when passing the waste on, to secure that the transfer is "only to an authorised person" and comes with a written description of the waste. A registered waste carrier is an authorised person under section 34(3)(d). Defra's explainer puts the practical point plainly: before handing anything over, make sure whoever offers to collect it is registered on the Environment Agency's register of Waste Carriers, Brokers and Dealers.

In our reading, that is where a business is exposed if old equipment ends up dumped. The person who deposits it may get a fixed penalty. The business that passed it to an unregistered collector faces the duty of care, which is a separate route. The new Group is focused on organised gangs and on intelligence sharing, so the register check is the part of the chain a business can control in minutes.

Four checks before IT equipment leaves

These are our suggestions, not government guidance.

1. Check the carrier's registration. Look the business up on the Environment Agency register before the collection, not after.
2. Describe the waste in writing. Say what it is, roughly how much, and flag anything that holds data: laptops, phones, servers, copiers.
3. Ask who erases the data, and what you get back. A record per device is stronger than a bulk statement, as our article on spotting a fake certificate of destruction explains.
4. Keep the paperwork. Our piece on disposal evidence that wins contracts covers what buyers ask to see.

The regulation applies in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements, so check the local position. For disclosure, we are an IT disposal company, not a law firm, so weigh the list above accordingly. This is our reading of the published legislation, with the sources linked so you can check them, and it is not legal advice.

The honest summary

The Waste Crime Crackdown Group is aimed at organised dumping, and the £5,000 in the announcement traces to a council's fixed penalty for the person who dumps waste. It is not the cap on duty of care fines, and a business that passes its waste to the wrong person is dealt with under the duty of care instead. If you are about to hand over old equipment, check the carrier is registered, describe what you are sending, and keep a record of where the data went.