Litter and flytipping
Littering and flytipping are criminal offences that harm Scotland's nature and environment, and make communities less attractive places to live.
Dealing with litter and flytipping costs the public sector a significant amount of money each year – money that could be used for other important services.
Littering
Littering is the act of throwing, dropping or leaving any items in public spaces and is a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Fixed Penalty Notice
As of June 2026, a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £80 may be issued for littering.
Flytipping
Flytipping is the illegal dumping of waste on unlicensed land, ranging from household rubbish to large amounts of domestic, commercial or construction waste. Flytipping is also a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Fixed Penalty Notice
As of June 2026, the FPN for flytipping in Scotland is £500. More serious cases can lead to prosecution, imprisonment or fines up to £40,000.
Everyone has to follow the Duty of Care: Code of Practice for managing controlled waste.
For householders this means any household waste that is not collected by your local authority, is transferred to a waste transporter appropriately registered with SEPA.
The register of waste transporters is on the SEPA website. Using registered waste carriers helps to prevent flytipping and other waste crime.
The impact of littering and flytipping
Every year in Scotland:
- around 250 million visible items are dropped as litter
- approximately 26,000 tonnes of waste is flytipped
- at least £53 million of public money is spent on clean‑up
Removing litter and flytipping from public land is the responsibility of local authorities and other duty bodies.
The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse sets out practical guidance on fulfilling the duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Policies and actions to reduce litter and flytipping
We published our National Litter and Flytipping Strategy in 2023. This sets out Scotland’s six-year approach to tackling these issues through prevention, behaviour change, improved services, enforcement and better data.
We are tackling litter and flytipping by:
- implementing national behaviour change campaigns, including public awareness campaigns to reduce littering and promote responsible disposal
- introducing more effective enforcement, including strengthening powers and supporting local authorities and agencies to take action against offenders
- improving data collection and monitoring through better reporting systems to track litter and flytipping and target interventions
We publish updates on the Strategy in annual action plans, developed in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful and SEPA.
These plans set out specific actions and milestones to deliver the Strategy’s objectives and improve outcomes across Scotland.
- National Litter and Flytipping Strategy - gov.scot
- National Litter and Flytipping Strategy update and year 2 action plan
- National litter and flytipping strategy: year 2 update and year 3 action plan 2025-2026 - gov.scot
New powers introduced through the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 will further support efforts to prevent littering and flytipping. These include:
- a new civil penalty for registered keepers of vehicles who litter
- a new fixed penalty regime for breaches of household waste duty of care
- powers to search and seize vehicles suspected of involvement in illegal waste activity
Reporting flytipping
Anyone can report flytipping by contacting the relevant local authority directly. Local authority contact details are on the GOV.UK website.
The information will be passed to SEPA or Police Scotland if the incident you report is:
- ongoing
- believed to be of a hazardous nature
- near a watercourse
If the waste concerned is non-hazardous, the information will be passed to the relevant local authority for investigation.