Fly-tippers tell Sky News illegal dumping can earn up to £2,000 a day
Fly-tippers told Sky News they can make up to £2,000 a day illegally dumping waste, feel no guilt and say they tell clients it is disposed of properly.
How it was covered
- Sky News was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on profitability and brazenness of fly-tipping, plus taxpayer costs.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4, GB News and ITV: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
Two prolific fly-tippers have told Sky News they can make about £2,000 on a good day by illegally dumping other people's waste. In a report by Sky News correspondent Dan Whitehead, the men said they feel no guilt and would not stop because the work pays.
Mr Whitehead joined the pair on a wet night in West London. They showed him regular dumping spots, including a housing estate where they had left mattresses, a Hoover and a hose reel. They said they chose places with no cameras, no houses or blocks, dark blind spots and bins nearby.
The men said they were part of a private group that offers waste jobs every day, with locations and jobs shared through an undisclosed app. They said the work could include house clearances, gardens, landscaping or a garage clearance. They told clients their rubbish was being disposed of properly. One said fly-tipping was 'like taking candy from a baby'.
Residents reacted with anger. One described fly-tippers as 'inconsiderate', 'anti-social' and 'just bums'. Another said they had seen a builder's van dump rubble in a bin. The men said they had jobs to do like everyone else, and that they could work legally but chose not to. One said that if he did not do it, somebody else would.
Sky News reported that fly-tipping is costing taxpayers millions, with councils clearing waste quickly. Figures showed 1.26 million reported incidents in England in 2024-25, up 9% on the year before. Most fly-tipping happens in London, at an average of 53 cases per 1,000 people, and household waste makes up 62% of incidents.
Most councils set fly-tipping fines at £400, Sky News reported, while prosecutions were down 14% year on year. The later Sky News bulletin repeated the report in shorter form and pointed viewers to an extended version.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Most councils set fly-tipping fines at £400 and prosecutions fell by 14% year on year. | |
| Reported fly-tipping incidents in England rose by 9% to 1.26 million in 2024-25. | |
| Two fly-tippers said they could earn approximately £2,000 on a good day. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Sky News built its coverage around an access report by correspondent Dan Whitehead, with direct testimony from two prolific fly-tippers in West London. The tone was confrontational and descriptive, stressing the men's lack of guilt, the mess left for residents and the cost to taxpayers, then adding national figures on incidents, fines and prosecutions. A later bulletin repeated the package in shorter form with no new developments.
- “Couple of grand, mate, if we do it properly. Couple of thousand pounds in a day. Yeah.”
- “No guilt at all, mate. We like doing it.”
- “We could do the job legally. Yeah, but we choose not to”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.