From this week, a sweeping new digital crackdown means over 12,000 permitted waste sites across England must report, in near real-time, every single load of waste that they receive.

For years, rogue operators have been able to hide behind outdated, paper-based system, falsifying documents and burying the evidence of illegal dumping.

Five men were arrested in August at the Bolton House Road site in Wigan, one of the country’s most notorious illegal waste dumping locations.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

Large fly-tipping incidents in Bolton went up by 20x between 2020 and 2025, according to data from the BBC Shared Data Unit, the third highest increase of any location in the country.

There were 54 tipper-lorry-sized fly tipping incidents in Bolton in 2019/20 – by 2024/25 this figure was 934.

Cllr Toby Hewitt, who sits on Bolton’s Climate Change, Environmental Services and Regulatory Services committee, said: “We try to target fly-tipping but my worry is that the people who do the illegal dumping will not do what is required of them.

“The proof will be in the pudding – I think it remains to be seen how Bolton will implement and benefit from this technology.

“The hope is that it makes the system easier for the proper operators to track people down.”

More recently, fly-tipping incidents have been on the rise in the borough.

The new ‘Report Receipt of Waste’ service is the first step in arming investigators with a digital audit trail, exposing suspicious patterns like never before and giving enforcement teams the ammunition they need to hunt and shut down the gangs profiting from Britain’s waste epidemic.

Waste can be generated by a household or on an industrial site, which should be picked up by a licensed carrier who is responsible for taking it to a permitted site for proper disposal.

This new system, when fully implemented, will help track down where a criminal network may be infiltrating the waste journey.

The move follows the Prime Minister’s vow to crack down on waste criminals with a greater use of drones, a bigger role for Mayors and the police, more Environment Agency officers on the frontline, and a dramatic rise in fines to deter and punish those who dump illegally.

Residents have long complained about foul odours coming from the site (Image: DEFRA)

Tackling the waste criminal network is part of the Prime Minister’s mission to restore hope to Britain’s neighbourhoods and prove that long-ignored problems can be fixed.

Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said: “Waste criminals used to exploit the gaps but now they will have nowhere to hide.

“We are backing the communities whose lives have been blighted by this disgusting crime. Through this new service, real time information will mean faster enforcement and more evidence to catch rogue operators and shut them down at every part of the waste journey.”

These waste drop-off sites will now need to record information like the details of the waste carrier and the waste classification code, which describes the type of waste being discarded.

The Environment Agency will use the data gathered through the service to identify discrepancies between reported collections and receipts, helping to flag suspicious activity and target investigations against operators suspected of illegal dumping, mislabelling waste or handling waste illegally.

(Image: Bolton Green Party Councillors)

The government and Environment Agency has already taken decisive action including clearing up a waste site in Kidlington, stopping dumping at an illegal site in Bradford and arrested five people for illegally dumping waste at the infamous Bolton House Road site in Wigan.

A new Waste Crime Crackdown Group, chaired by Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle, will also bring regulators and law enforcement together to dismantle criminal operations and deliver results.

Further rollout of the Digital Waste Tracking service is planned from spring 2027, as it becomes available to include waste collectors.