The UK is estimated to have at least 8,000 illegal waste sites, containing approximately 13m tonnes of rubbish, research has revealed.<\/p>\n
The scale of the criminal dumping means at least \u00a31.63bn of landfill taxes have been avoided, according to an analysis of data from the satellite company Air & Space Evidence, shared with the Guardian and Watershed Investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big concern is that along with avoiding landfill tax, they are also avoiding the regulations that control what can go in landfill and ensure that people and the environment are protected,\u201d said Prof Kate Spencer, a landfill expert at Queen Mary University of London.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to stop any pollutants being washed into nearby rivers or soils. We also know that illegal waste disposal can create a big concern for local communities in terms of smell, eyesore and littering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have illegal waste sites in Essex that regularly catch fire with the potential to harm local air quality and human health.\u201d<\/p>\n
The high estimated number of illegal sites suggests the authorities are barely scratching the surface of the crisis. In the year 2024-2025, the Environment Agency (EA) shut down 743<\/a> illegal waste sites in England and the agency\u2019s waste investigations data showed 1,143<\/a> ongoing cases of illegal dumps.<\/p>\n Yet Air & Space Evidence said the EA was not interested in using its intelligence tool, which could help inform law enforcement where to look for illegal waste sites.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we spoke with the Environment Agency<\/a> there was much interest at the technical level, but at the management level there was no interest,\u201d said Ray Harris, the company\u2019s director and emeritus professor of geography at University College London.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the outside, this looks like a fear of finding out. If the Environment Agency finds more illegal waste sites then they feel they will have to do something about them. So, they would rather not know.\u201d<\/p>\n Air & Space Evidence says its detection tool has been tried out by authorities in New Zealand, where law enforcement confirmed waste at all 125 suspected landfill sites, 58% of which were previously unknown to them.<\/p>\n The estimated number of sites in the UK was calculated by examining detailed satellite images of areas including London, Brussels and Bucharest \u2013 as well as parts of New Zealand \u2013 and using that to model the average number of sites across the country.<\/p>\n The figure of 8,000 sites is at the lower end of the estimate; the researchers found there could be as many as 13,000.<\/p>\n In October, a House of Lords report highlighted widespread failings within the EA, the poor performance of its joint unit for waste crime, and the limited engagement of police in addressing what has been dubbed \u201cthe new narcotics\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thousands of tonnes of illegal waste dumped in 2024 within Hoad\u2019s Wood, an ancient woodland in Ashford, Kent. Photograph: Gareth Fuller\/PA<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the scale and seriousness of the crimes, raised by the members of the public in many cases, we have found multiple failings by the Environment Agency and other agencies, from slow responses to repeated public reports (as in the case of Hoad\u2019s Wood, Kent<\/a>) through to a woeful lack of successful convictions,\u201d Lady Sheehan, chair of the Lords\u2019 environment and climate change committee, said in her report.<\/p>\n Criminals dumped 35,000 tonnes of rubbish in Hoad\u2019s Wood, saddling taxpayers with a \u00a315m cleanup cost, and in Oxfordshire, the Kidlington site<\/a> is thought to hold several hundred tonnes of household and commercial waste. According to the committee, there are six sites of similar or greater size than these, which they say points to a \u201cfundamentally broken system\u201d.<\/p>\n EA waste crime data shows ongoing cases have been open for an average of four years. There are 13 cases that have been open for 11 years, some involving the burning of hundreds tonnes of asbestos.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cWithout regulation it will get worse,\u201d said Spencer. \u201cI suspect the legal mechanisms are there to regulate it, but it comes down to resources and identifying who is responsible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a polluters pay system, but if you can\u2019t find the culprit, who pays to clean up these sites?\u201d<\/p>\n The scale of the problem, losses in revenue and the cost of cleaning up has led some to question the overall benefits of the landfill tax.<\/p>\n \u201cThe landfill tax is significant and it\u2019s leading to these loopholes,\u201d said Paul Brindley, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield, who said tax revenues have been falling in the past decade.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of clearing up far outweighs the money we\u2019re receiving from landfill tax and we\u2019re missing all these unknown sites. Is the landfill tax counterproductive and creating an environmental catastrophe that will only get worse?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An Environment Agency spokesperson said: \u201cIllegal waste dumping is appalling, and we work tirelessly to protect the environment and communities from it.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestigations can be multilayered and complex as we look to bring rogue operators \u2013 often from the criminal underworld \u2013 to justice.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year alone our dedicated teams successfully stopped activity at 743 illegal waste sites, and we\u2019re doubling staff in our joint waste crime unit to help crack down on these miserable crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n