In recent years Newport has been the worst place in Wales for flytipping according to government figures. And in Peterstone, in the Gwent Levels in the southwest of the city, villagers say things have got out of control. According to Welsh Government statistics Newport recorded the highest number of incidents across the country in 2023 and 2024 with 8,139 cases - 37% more than in Cardiff.
And while the number dropped to 7,318 in 2024 and 2025 the figures still show a nearly 17% increase compared to 2022. The rise in flytipping incidents since 2019, according to the Welsh Government's numbers, shows a 63% increase in Newport and people living in the city say they feel that only scratches the surface.
Numbers obtained by local Conservative campaigner Michael Enea through a freedom of information request to Newport City Council also show that in 2024 the local authority in Newport issued 124 fines for flytipping despite investigating 7,300 reports. During the same period just 10 flytipping incidents were successfully prosecuted in Newport, the research suggests. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter.
Newport council said they issued 313 fines from April 2024 to March 2025 - up from just 22 fines the previous year. They agreed they'd only prosecuted 10 cases but said this was up from four the previous year. The council said there had been a 23.6% increase in enforcement actions over the same period which could have had a bearing on the stark rise in cases.
In Peterstone landscape gardener Rhys Warrilow said he's not surprised by the numbers and if anything thought they'd be worse. "It's a massive issue here," he told WalesOnline.
"I am not surprised at all by those statistics. At Green Lane, which runs across the back of the houses here, it's constant and you have to avoid the lane a lot of the time because stuff has been dumped."
Green Lane was tidier than usual when we visited this week but we still came across multiple incidents of flytipping on the roadside and in the reens.
"The amount of tyres you see is phenomenal," Rhys said. "Often you have to turn around and find alternative routes. It's quite incredible. A lot of it is building work and rubble which has been emptied off the back of a lorry but you'll also get fridges, sofas, and general household waste."
On why there has been such a spike in the numbers in recent years Rhys said he believes it's due to bin collections decreasing in frequency and rules changing around council tips since the Covid pandemic.
Now Newport City Council collects black bins every three weeks while tips are only open to the public via a booking system.
Rhys added: "Black bin collections are less frequent and tips are operating booking schemes. Where we are, sort of in between Newport and Cardiff, you'll get people coming from Cardiff dumping stuff because it's more difficult to trace.
"You'll also have people in the local area using waste collectors instead of doing it themselves but that waste collector might often be just dumping it.
"It really p***** me off because as a landscape gardener I could just dump stuff but I don't - I pay to sort the waste properly.
"It is harder to dispose of waste now though without a doubt. Because of the collections being once every three weeks now I'm sometimes having to ask relatives if they can take a black bin or two off me because if my bin doesn't close the bin men won't take it."
Newport council says it moved to three-weekly household and garden waste pickups because of recycling targets. They said: "We spend more than £2.2m to dispose of non-recyclable waste every year. New data shows that almost 40% of it could have been recycled at home.
"The Welsh Government has set targets for Welsh councils to recycle 70% of household waste. Recycling rates in Newport have improved significantly over the last 15 years, up from 20% to 67%. However we must increase our recycling rate to avoid a heavy fine.
"Based on our current recycling performance we could be fined more than £500,000 for every year we fail to meet this target. If you sort your waste and recycle all you can using our separate recycling collections every week you'll have less leftover rubbish to put in your bin for non-recyclable waste."
Peterstone has many council signs warning people against flytipping while recently the council put poles up to place cameras on around Peterstone for further deterrence but within days the poles had been cut down in the middle of the night.
Teacher Lee Colvin, who also lives in the village and is on the local community council, said: "You've got cameras being put up and then hours later being cut down. The stumps are still there.
"It's actually affecting people's ability to sell their homes around here. It's that bad. One of the worst incidents I saw in Peterstone was outside our house when a white van literally pulled up with a big tank with hazchem (hazardous chemicals) marks all over it and he just turned the tap on and it all started spewing out.
"I'm a science teacher and knew what was coming out of that tank was not good. The guy said it was water. It definitely wasn't. They ripped the number plates off and fled after I challenged them. That's how blatant it can be. But it's not usually that blatant - often it happens at night."
Resident Leon Tarr said: "We believe only one person has ever been prosecuted for flytipping on Green Lane. Since the pub closed fewer people are in the area, the camera that's here doesn't operate, and it's an easy place to do it. All the reens, if you take a look through them, you'll see stuff in all of them."
The pub in the village is the Six Bells which has been closed for years while the community tries to get the funds to re-open it. The village has very few amenities with no shop and no post office.
"The place feels forgotten," Rhys said. Helen Colvin said: "Flytipping is just one part of the general degeneration of Peterstone."
Bernie Cook, who has lived in the village the longest, added: "At Christmas time in particular you'll find massive pieces of furniture - I presume from where people have had new stuff for Christmas and can't be bothered to dispose of what they don't want properly.
"I've seen it get far worse of late. When my children were small there was nothing like this. Certainly no refuse dumping from building contractors. It's dreadful. Often it's filthy because there's all sorts in there."
Newport council said between April and June this year their waste enforcement and engagement team handed out 50 fines to people for flytipping and other waste-related offences worth £14,700 - up from 35 fines handed out in the same period last year for flytipping offences.
"We are continuing to see a reduction in the total number of flytipping incidents," they said. "The total number from April to June is around 10.4% lower than it was in 2024.
"This continues the trend we saw during the period April 2024-March 2025 where the total number of incidents had reduced by more than 10% when compared with the previous 12 months.
"As well as issuing fines the team has also increased other enforcement actions. The number of warning letters issued for household waste offences during this period was 195 and the number of statutory notices given to people for household waste offences was 123. Both of those stats are up on the same period in 2024 (24 warning letters and 36 statutory notices respectively).
"These are first steps on the enforcement process with regards to household waste. Officers will look to work with people on presenting their waste correctly with fines being issued as a last resort to repeat offenders. The team has also passed 10 serious environmental crime cases to the council's legal team for further action."
Councillor Yvonne Forsey, who is cabinet member for climate change, waste, and recycling, added: "These stats show that we are continuing to take decisive action against the scourge of flytipping. We have invested more and more resources into this area and the increase in fines and warnings issued to offenders is evidence that we are having an impact.
"The fact that the total number of incidents is down compared with April-June last year is also pleasing. We will keep taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping to make sure these trends continue."