Report a street cleaning issue

How to report a street cleaning issue

You can report dumped waste (fly-tipping), graffiti, fly-posting, overflowing litter bins, unsatisfactory street cleaning or free printed material. You can report a fallen tree by selecting 'Other' on the form and letting us know the location or street of the tree.

Report a street cleaning issue online

• You can also call us on 028 9027 0230

You can submit an anonymous report, but if you want us to contact you, you'll need to provide your contact details.

We try to resolve all service requests within five working days.

Read the terms and conditions for online services and our privacy statement.

Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping or dumping is the illegal, deliberate dumping of waste. It also includes excess waste left beside household and commercial bins, which we cannot collect.

Anyone found guilty of illegal dumping and leaving excess waste in our streets may receive a fixed penalty notice of £80 or £400, depending on the nature and extent of the dumping. Larger instances of fly-tipping can carry a fine of up to £2,500 from the courts.

If you allow an unlicensed company or person to take your waste and they then illegally dump it in Belfast, or elsewhere, you could receive a fixed penalty notice of £300.

• Find out more about how to deal with extra bags of waste

You can also use our online form to report fly-tipping in your area.

Graffiti and fly-posting

Graffiti is the destruction or damage of property by painting, writing, soiling and marking.

The removal of graffiti is the responsibility of the owner of the property. If it's a Housing Association or Northern Ireland Housing Executive property, contact your local housing office to arrange removal.

Fly-posting is the illegal posting of adverts or posters to any structure. 

Discarded needles and other drugs litter

Please don’t touch this material.

If discarded needles or drug waste is in a public space, or on our own council land, we will remove it as soon as possible, once it has been reported to us.

Call us on 028 9027 0469 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) or email [email protected] to report the location.

You can call us on 07850 499622 in the evening, at weekends or over public holidays.

We do not dispose of needles or other waste on private land, including houses, gardens or businesses.

Drug waste advice for businesses

Businesses are responsible for removing needles or other drugs waste from their premises.

We have worked with the Public Health Agency, Extern and the Belfast PCSP to produce a leaflet for businesses on disposing of drugs waste safely.

You can call us on 028 9027 0469 to request a copy.

A video highlighting how businesses can safely dispose of drug waste, and the essential equipment you will need, is also available from the Extern website (link opens in new window).

Other work to reduce drugs waste

Our Safer Neighbourhood Officers work across the city, including Belfast city centre, to support the PSNI and community outreach teams in addressing anti-social behaviour and assisting vulnerable people.

Extern’s Street Injectors Support Service (SISS) also works directly with those injecting substances to ensure individuals have access to harm reduction advice and information to reduce risks. You can find out more about SISS on the Extern website (link opens in new window).

Our council is also part of the Complex Lives programme, supporting some of our city’s most vulnerable people to break the cycle of chronic homelessness.

Fallen leaves

We have no legal duty to clear footpaths and walkways of fallen leaves. Our city centre and neighbourhood cleansing teams will try to clear fallen leaves when they can as part of their daily tasks. Our teams also clear gullies and drains of fallen leaves to prevent flash flooding occurring across the city. We would encourage people to take care on footpaths and walkways as leaf fall can be hazardous.

What do we do?

Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 we can:

• issue an £80 fixed penalty notice to graffiti and fly-posting offenders.
• hold venue owners and event promoters responsible for fly-posting related to their events.
• if we agree to remove contentious graffiti, we'll do it within one working day after the signing of an indemnity form.  
• we have no legal duty to remove fly-posters. We will try to take enforcement action to have them removed, but where we can't, we'll remove or paint over them as necessary and recoup the costs. 
• the Planning Service has enforcement powers to remove fly-posting. The Department for Infrastructure (DFI) Roads removes fly-posters from its traffic signs and street lighting.