The east London borough that is the worst place in England for littering

From cigarette butts and nicotine pouches to snack packets and greasy takeaway tubs, you don’t really have to walk very far in London before spotting rubbish strewn across the street. So, it probably won’t come as much of a surprise that a London borough has just been named and shamed as the worst place in all of England for littering. 

Property agent Sell House Fast sent freedom of information requests to each London borough and 50 of the biggest towns and cities outside of the capital to find out how many fixed penalty notices (FPNs) they handed out for littering between 2022 and 2024. Based on the data that came back, it crowned the borough of Newham England’s litter capital. 

The research found that the people of Newham have received nearly 50,000 fines for chucking rubbish on the street over the past three years (not including fly tipping). That equates to 13,319 penalties per 100,000 people.

Home to Westfield Stratford, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and London City Airport, there are more than 1,800 public bins in Newham and rubbish collections every week. The borough hands out fines of £150 for littering (including dropping cigarette and chewing gum), and more serious or unpaid offences can lead to prosecution. Even spitting is included in its street litter crackdown.  

Its high levels of rubbish dumping could be down to its population density – at 25,000 people per square mile, its the eighth most densely popular area in England. Sells House Fast said that this ‘creates a higher volume of waste, which can be more difficult for the council to effectively manage’ and added that other factors like limited resources, public perception of littering as normal and a lack of community pride may also be contributing to the problem.  

Newham eclipses all other English cities in its number of littering reports. Manchester was named the second worst place in the UK for rubbish dumping, with roughly 35,000 penalties in the last three years. 

In response to the report, John Whitworth, Newham Council’s cabinet member for climate emergency, air quality and environment, told the Standard: ‘These figures show the task Newham Council is facing. We take littering extremely seriously in the borough and we have a zero-tolerance proactive approach towards anyone found discarding rubbish irresponsibly.

‘We recently launched our Let's Love Newham campaign to encourage everyone to dispose of their rubbish responsibly and to report environmental issues directly to the Council via an app or our website.’

Did you see that this leafy, happy neighbourhood has been named the best London borough?

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.