Change of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-litter-and-refuse

Change description : 2026-03-03 09:00:00: Following collaboration with local authorities and other duty bodies we have updated the COPLR with clearer explanations, higher quality images and updated legislative references. [Guidance and regulation]

Showing diff : 2023-10-19 10:38:45.166999873 +00:00..2026-03-03 09:03:59.160319463 +00:00

Statutory guidance

Litter and refuse: code of practice

This code of practice outlines what a court of law might consider as applicable to different types of land.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
1 April 2013
Last updated
319 MarchOctober 20262023 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Code of practice on litter and refuse

Ref: ISBNpb11577b

PDF, 978-1-5286-6247-5772 KB, 59 pages

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Code of practice on litter and refuse - part 1A: enforcement guidance

HTMLPDF, 318 KB, 32 pages

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Modification to the code of practice on litter and refuse (explanation note)

PDF, 63.2 KB, 2 pages

Details

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposes duties under section 89(1) and (2) on certain landowners and occupiers to keep specified land clear of litter and refuse, and on local authorities and the Secretary of State to keep clean public highways for which they are responsible.

This document provides a practical guide to the discharge of these duties and applies to England only.

Part 1 contains a code of practice (referred to throughout as ‘the Code’) issued under section 89(7) of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990.

Part 2 contains advisory standards for graffiti and fly-posting. Such defacement, even if partially removed, has an adverse affect on the quality of the environment and can lead to an increase in crime. Even if all of the litter and refuse were cleared,cleared,the the public would perceive the area to be defaced if graffiti orand/or fly-posting were still present.

Part 3 contains details of the legislative framework that surrounds this code of practice.

September 2019 update

Updates

The code of practice was updated to include Part 1A on enforcement guidance (published as a separate document on this page

Publishedpage). We 1also Aprilpublished 2013
the modification note which details the changes made.

February 2022 update

Last updatedyear 3Defra Marchlaid 2026 minor href="#full-history">+and showtechnical allchanges updates

  1. FollowingLittering collaborationFrom Vehicles Outside London (Keepers: Civil Penalties) Regulations 2018 - the regulations which gave councils in England (outside London) the power to issue a civil penalty to the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown.

    These new regulations, which came into force on 14th February 2022, will ensure the process council’s should follow to recover unpaid penalties is consistent with localother authoritiestraffic enforcement regimes.

    In particular, they introduce the step of an enforcement notice and otherset dutyout bodiesthe respondent’s right to challenge a court order on specified grounds through the filing of a witness statement. Section 11P.0 has been amended to reflect these changes

    October 2023 update

    The Prime Minister’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan set out how we havewill support councils to take tougher action against those who harm our public spaces. This included a commitment to significantly raise the upper limit on fixed penalty notices for certain offences, which we did in July this year.

    Part 1A of the Code of Practice has been updated to show the COPLRnew withupper clearerlimits explanations,on higherfixed qualitypenalty imagesnotices for littering, graffiti, fly-posting, fly-tipping and updatedbreaching legislativethe references.household waste duty of care.

Published 1 April 2013
Last updated 19 October 2023 + show all updates

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Update history

2026-03-05 10:32
Published the Explanatory memorandum for parliament on the code of practice for litter and refuse.

2026-03-03 09:00
Following collaboration with local authorities and other duty bodies we have updated the COPLR with clearer explanations, higher quality images and updated legislative references.

2023-10-19 11:38
We have updated the maximum full penalties in section 11L.0 of the Part 1A enforcement guidance.