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

Do not touch discarded needles or other drug litter.

If this material is in a public space or on council land, we will remove it as soon as possible. We don't dispose of needles or other drug waste found on private land, in houses, gardens or businesses.

Report needles, syringes or drug litter

You can use our online form to report the location of drug waste.

Report discarded needles or syringes

If you can't complete our form, you can:

• call us during office hours: 028 9027 0469 (our office hours are Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 5pm, and Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm) or
• call us outside office hours: 07850 499622 (evenings, weekends and public holidays).

Drug waste advice for businesses

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

We produced a leaflet for businesses on disposing of drugs waste safely. To ask us for a leaflet, call 028 9027 0469. 

To watch a video on how businesses can safely dispose of drug waste, go to Extern (link opens in new window).

Other work to reduce drugs waste

Our Safer Neighbourhood Officers work across Belfast, including the 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 people injecting substances to ensure they 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).

We are 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

While we have no legal duty to clear leaf fall during the autumn months, our Cleansing staff do their best to remove any build-up on pavements as part of their daily work, where and when possible.

This includes clearing kerb line channels and the tops of drains, though this is dependent on the resources we have available.

Drains and gullies are looked after by the Department for Infrastructure, who manage their wider maintenance across the road network.

If fallen leaves are causing blocked gullies, affecting roadside drainage or leading to surface water in your area, you can report these issues on nidirect (link opens in new window).

Take care on footpaths and walkways as leaves can make these areas slippy, especially during wet weather.

What do we do?

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

• issue a £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.