The Waste Tip: Exploring fly-tipping and opportunities for better waste management (Fly-tipping)

This 11-month project, funded by the University of Manchester Research Interdisciplinary (UMRI) Pump Priming Grant as part of the Sustainable Futures research platform, researched fly-tipping and opportunities for better waste management.

A photo of rubbish bin bags

‘The Waste Tip’ aimed to explore the phenomena of fly-tipping through an interdisciplinary lens. Fly-tipping is an illegal practice in the UK involving people or companies abandoning waste in spaces, such as by the side of the road or on rural land.

In the year 2020/21 local authorities in England dealt with 1.13m tipping incidents (DEFRA, 2021).

Fly-tipping is hazardous to human health and the environment, from releasing toxic waste into ecosystems to the change in biodiversity.

This project utilised interdisciplinary methods to understand waste flows, end-of-life fates, and the circular economy to the phenomenon of fly-tipping as a lens through which we can understand and then build a more sustainable future.

The project drew upon the University’s uniquely diverse research community, bringing together expertise from social science, materials science, geoengineering, life-cycle analysis, business models and history.

It was led by Dr Helen Holmes (Lecturer in Social Science, Sustainable Consumption Institute, Sustainable Futures lead for Inclusive and Prosperous Futures), and was supported by an interdisciplinary team.

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