Environment crime

Many waste or environmental issues need to be reported to your local council or other agencies.

Incidents you need to report to either a council or utility company

Noise pollution

This needs to be reported to your local council. Find your local council.  

Waste and litter

Litter and waste dumps need to be reported to your local council. Find your local council.

Fly tipping

Fly tipping, the dumping of waste, needs to be reported to the local council. Find your local council.

Pests 

You can contact your council to find out if they offer services to control pests like wasps, rats, mice or bedbugs. Find your local council.

Discarded syringes or drug paraphernalia

Your local council will arrange for syringes and drug paraphernalia left in public to be removed. Find your local council. 

Dangerous buildings or structures

You can report dangerous buildings or structures to your local council. Find your local council.               

Burst water mains

Who to report this to, your council, the environment agency or the utility company, depends on the circumstances. Gov.uk gives a useful breakdown of who to contact.

Garden bonfires

There’s no law against having a bonfire in your garden, but there are laws on the nuisance they can cause. Find more information on Gov.uk.

The Environment Agency - in England only

Call the Environment Agency incident hotline to report:

• damage or danger to the natural environment
• pollution to water or land
• poaching or illegal fishing
• dead fish or fish gasping for air
• main rivers blocked by a vehicle or fallen tree causing risk of flooding
• flooding from any river, stream, canal, natural spring or the sea
• incidents at Environment Agency-regulated waste sites
• illegal removals from watercourses
• unusual changes in river flow
• collapsed or badly damaged river or canal banks

24-hour incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60 

If you’re in Wales

Report the incident to Natural Resources Wales. 

The Environment Agency deals with contaminated land, radiation, pollution and flood risk. You can find more information about environmental risk. 

Find out about licensing and activities to do with protected species and vulnerable environments. 

Report it to us

Illegal fishing

Illegal fishing includes:

• fishing on any watercourse without permission
• theft of fish from ponds and canals
• capture of protected glass eels

Call 999 if you know these crimes are happening now.

Report online if the crimes are not happening now. 

Contact the Environment Agency for other fishing related incidents like fishing without a licence or using incorrect equipment.

Large scale dumping or hazardous waste 

We need to know about large scale illegal dumping (where lorries are being used to dump rubbish), someone running a waste site without a permit or not following the rules of a waste management permit. Report this online. 

If you're aware of hazardous waste that's an immediate danger to the public, report it to us straight away by calling 999. If you have a hearing or speech impairment​, use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.