Fly-Tipping in Wales: 48,367 Incidents and the Case for Digital Chain-of-Custody

The Numbers

The Welsh Government and Fly-tipping Action Wales released their latest figures in February 2026, and the picture is sobering. Between April 2024 and March 2025:

• 48,367 fly-tipping incidents were recorded across Wales — a 14.7% increase on the previous year
• That equates to approximately 133 incidents every day
• 71% of fly-tips contained household waste
• 1,500+ fixed penalty notices were issued
• 69 successful prosecutions were secured, led by Cardiff (20), Rhondda Cynon Taf (18), and Carmarthenshire (9)

The enforcement response has intensified. Newport County Council carried out 2,386 enforcement actions — the highest of any Welsh authority — contributing to a reduction in incidents in the area. Neath Port Talbot has been seizing and crushing vehicles linked to fly-tipping. Across Wales, enforcement activity reached its highest level in six years.

But enforcement alone is not solving the problem. Incidents continue to rise, and the cost to local authorities — in clean-up, investigation, and prosecution — runs into millions annually.

Why Construction Waste Is Part of the Problem

While 71% of recorded fly-tips contain household waste, construction and demolition materials feature prominently in the remaining cases. Rogue operators — unlicensed waste carriers who undercut legitimate businesses — collect construction waste from sites and dump it in lay-bys, country lanes, and private land.

The current system relies on householders and businesses checking waste carrier licences before handing over waste. The penalty for failing to do so is a £300 fixed penalty or up to £5,000 at Magistrates Court. But in practice, enforcement is difficult because the chain of custody is poorly documented.

When a pile of construction waste appears in a field, investigators face a fundamental question: where did it come from, and who handled it? Without a documented trail from source to destination, building a prosecution case is time-consuming and often unsuccessful.

The Digital Chain-of-Custody Approach

TroCymru's Fly-Tipping Prevention service addresses this gap by creating an unbroken digital chain of custody for every load of waste from the point of departure to the licensed receiving facility.

The process works as follows:

At departure: The waste carrier scans a QR code assigned to the load. The mobile capture form records a GPS-stamped photograph, the carrier's details, the vehicle registration, and the material description. This creates a timestamped departure record.

At arrival: When the load reaches the licensed waste facility, the QR code is scanned again. A second GPS-stamped photograph confirms the location, and the facility details are recorded. The system matches departure and arrival, closing the chain of custody.

If a load goes missing: The platform generates a real-time alert when a departed load has not been received within the expected timeframe. This allows immediate investigation before the trail goes cold.

For enforcement: Every completed chain-of-custody record is stored as a court-ready digital evidence pack — timestamped photographs, GPS coordinates, carrier details, and facility confirmation. This is the kind of structured, verifiable evidence that prosecutors need.

What This Means for Local Authorities

For local authorities spending significant budgets on fly-tipping clean-up and investigation, digital chain-of-custody tracking offers three advantages:

1. Prevention through deterrence: When every load is tracked and any gap triggers an alert, the opportunity for illegal dumping is dramatically reduced. Rogue operators cannot operate invisibly.

2. Faster, cheaper investigations: Instead of working backwards from a dump site to identify the source, investigators have a digital record that identifies exactly where the chain broke. This reduces investigation time from weeks to hours.

3. Higher prosecution success rates: Court-ready evidence packs with GPS, timestamps, and photographs provide the standard of proof that magistrates require. No more relying on circumstantial evidence or witness statements.

The Broader Picture

Fly-tipping is not just an environmental nuisance. It undermines legitimate waste businesses, damages communities, and erodes public trust in waste management systems. The 14.7% rise in incidents shows that the current approach — relying on after-the-fact enforcement — is not sufficient.

Digital chain-of-custody tracking shifts the approach from reactive to preventive. By making every load visible and every gap detectable, it removes the conditions that allow fly-tipping to occur.

Newport's experience — where a dramatic increase in enforcement actions correlated with a reduction in incidents — shows that determined action works. Digital tools can amplify that determination across every local authority in Wales.

TroCymru's Fly-Tipping Prevention service is available as a standalone subscription for local authorities at £2,500/month. View pricing [blocked] or contact us [blocked] to discuss a pilot.