Fly tipping mountains are getting bigger, official figures show, as the cost of clearing them up has risen by nearly a quarter. The number of waste piles discovered which are bigger than the capacity of a lorry, classed as "multi load incidents", rose by 43 per cent over the past year, data published by the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs showed.

It comes as local councils are starting to withdraw recycling services as some types of plastic are becoming too expensive to process, potentially leading to more excess household waste being illegally dumped. What do we do about it?