Government's environment boss pledges action to tackle littering and fly-tipping scourge in Peterborough

The Secretary of State for the Environment took his turn at litter picking on a housing estate in Peterborough today (April 25) as he highlighted Government action to outlaw this growing social scourge.

Armed with a simple litter picker and a green bag, Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP joined locals, councillors, Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes and Anna Smith, Labour’s candidate for the Combined Authority mayoral election, to help clear litter from grass verges off Belvoir Way, in Welland.

Over an hour, the group had almost about six bags with discarded cans, bottles and wrappers among the grass verges and hedgerows.

New figures have shown that fly-tipping across Cambridgeshire soared by 83 percent between 2010 and 2024 with more white goods, vehicle parts and discarded construction waste strewn across some streets in Peterborough.

Mr Reed said the Government was looking at various measures to protect the environment and to help tackle littering and fly-tipping as well as water pollution.

He said: “For instance, the Government is introducing a deposit return scheme for people as most of the litter you find on the roads is food and drink containers.

"So if we can give people the incentive to bring back the bottle containers and get a few pennies back that can make a real difference.

"We are also talking about extended producer responsibility which is intended to make the polluter pay so if you’re a manufacturer who puts excessive packaging around then you pay an extra premium to help councils clean it up again.

"The incentive is to reduce excessive packaging so we see less of it on our streets.”

He added: "There is more we can do to raise awareness of the issue, such as encouraging litter picking projects like this one in Peterborough.

"This shows people that this is a community that cares about its area and this sends out a positive message that means others are less likely to be dumping rubbish.”

Anna Smith said: “One of the things people tell me time and time again is their concern about litter and fly-tipping and about anti-social behaviour in general.

"It is getting worse.

"It is up to this government – us as a whole team locally and nationally to work together to solve that.

“I want to make our region one of the best places to grow up and grow old in, but fly-tipping is a major problem and has been ignored for too long by people who just don’t care.

"Residents around here are sick of our streets being plagued by discarded rubbish and waste.

“The Labour Government has taken swift action to tackle antisocial behaviour, including new Respect Orders for repeat adult offenders, through its Plan for Change."

Just a few weeks ago members of Peterborough Litter Wombles called on Peterborough City Council to do more to address fly-tipping after a footpath in Bretton had became a ‘dumping ground’ for rubbish and household waste.

Mr Reed’s visit also comes after the Government announced new laws in its Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 that would see polluting water bosses face up to two years in prison for covering up illegal sewage spills.