Hundreds of illegal dumps are operating across England, including at least 11 so-called “super sites” containing tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish, a BBC investigation has found.
More than 700 illegal tips were shut down in 2024/25, but data released by the Environment Agency has revealed some 517 dumps were still active at the end of last year.
Among the largest sites that have yet to be cleared up are a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall, a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent and a 20,000-tonne dump in Oxfordshire. Most sites are in countryside locations, often hidden, and on what should be agricultural land.
Police say many are run by organised crime gangs, who are making cash by charging much less than legitimate operators to take and bury waste.
Businesses have to pay site fees to use legitimate licensed landfill sites, depending on the amount and type of waste they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per tonne.
Emma Viner, the Environment Agency’s enforcement and investigations manager, added: “We share the public’s disgust for the things that are happening and for the waste crime that we’re seeing and we are taking action.
“Every year, we’re shutting down hundreds of illegal waste sites.
“But it’s a dynamic picture. For all the waste sites that we’re closing, we’re seeing more and more pop up around the country.”
Ed Lennox, Director of Operations, Clean Up Britain, said that it was “incredibly easy” to stop these ‘supersites’.
He said: “The legislative landscape in this country is designed to encourage environmental crime. If you go back 50 years, there were something like 6,000 recognised locations across the UK where you could take rubbish.
“Fast-forward to the 2020s and the number has dropped to less than 1,500. In that time, the population’s risen, consumption has gone up and we have more packaging.
“If you don’t make it easy and convenient to do the right thing, people will do the wrong thing.”
“People want somewhere local and convenient to dump their rubbish. If you don’t make it easy and convenient to do the right thing, people will do the wrong thing. Similarly, if you’re going to impose fines, make them fit the crime. In Buckinghamshire last summer, someone dumped 150 lorry tyres in a watercourse and was fined just £1,500.
“It’s the perfect recipe for a complete disaster, which is what we’ve got.”
An NFU spokesperson was also critical: “Industrial-scale fly-tipping is blighting rural areas and costing farmers precious time and money to clear up.
“Many of these ‘super sites’ are on agricultural land and see huge amounts of waste, often hazardous, being dumped regularly. Not only are farmers being prevented from growing crops and grazing livestock but are also having to pay thousands of pounds to clear away the rubbish.
“We need far better collaboration between police, local authorities, landowners and the criminal justice system to ensure effective deterrents are in place. A single reporting system would also make a real difference, reducing the burden on victims.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “We are working across government to wipe out illegal waste throughout the country and make those responsible pay.
“We are directly supporting the Environment Agency, giving them more officers and 50% more funding to boost waste crime enforcement, and handing out tougher sentences for those who break the law.”
Other government plans include the introduction of digital-waste tracking; reforms to waste permit exemptions; and helping councils to crush fly-tippers’ vans and deploy drones and mobile CCTV cameras to identify vehicles.
