Supersized illegal waste dumps hidden across English countryside

The BBC’s investigation has found that hundreds of illegal landfills operate across the UK, including at least 11 so-called “supersites” containing tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish.

More than 700 illegal dumps were closed in 2024/25, but data published by the Environment Agency revealed around 517 dumps were still active at the end of last year.

The largest sites yet to be cleared include a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall, a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent and a 20,000-tonne dump in Oxfordshire.

Most sites are in rural areas, often hidden and located where farmland should be.

Police say many of these are run by organized crime gangs who make their money by charging far less than legal operators to pick up waste and bury it.

An Environment Agency spokesman said the agency was committed to tackling waste crime and was “using all available levers to prevent those profiting from the damage caused by illegal landfills”.

Environmental campaigners in England and residents living near settlements say little is being done to clean up dumps, although in many cases offenders have been identified and prosecuted.

Tens of thousands of tonnes in Gloucestershire In Over, waste was dumped on land.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that 30-50 vehicles drive to the area near the Over junction every day.

A fire to which Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service was called in June 2025 caused operations in the area to largely cease, although it was not closed down.

Fires regularly break out in the area, which is close to a busy main road and behind a popular country park and farm shop. When the BBC visited, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from several points on the hill.

Although the Environment Agency is investigating, many locals feel that not enough action has been taken against those using the site to store or clear waste.

Charlie Coats, chairman of Highnam District Council, said the site was now a “significant blemish on the landscape” and rubbish was seeping into the floodplain of the River Leadon, which flows into the River Severn.

He said trucks dumping garbage every day for years had created road safety, noise and pollution problems.

“It caused odor, smoke, noise. A lot of vegetation was damaged, trees and shrubs were destroyed and there was a significant blemish on the landscape. Some of the pollutants are leaking into waterways.”

“In addition, there have been spontaneous combustion events where the material heats up and catches fire. The fire brigade was called several times to mitigate this.”

“People are concerned that no effective control measures are being taken to stop this activity and there is no indication from the Environment Agency of what to do,” he said.

The BBC was unable to contact the landowner but contacted one of the people believed to be using the Over site. He declined to comment.

An Environment Agency spokesman said they were “actively investigating” littering and “sharing as much information as possible with Highnam residents without prejudice to further enforcement action”.

Many of the tip-offs operating across the country are run by serious organized crime gangs. The scale of illegal waste activity in the UK has seen former Environment Agency chief Sir James Bevan once refer to it as “the new narcotics”.

Gangs often bring shredding equipment to rural areas off normally quiet rural roads, and trucks are then seen bringing in waste to be shredded into smaller, dumpable quantities, from household rubbish to soil to aggregates on construction sites.

The truckloads are then hauled off to either be dumped into ever-larger mountains of waste, buried under farmland or bridleways, or even stored in barns.

Nearly £100,000 in cash was seized and two men were arrested earlier this month. A series of raids on suspicion of money laundering and waste crimes Across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire.

Police officers also seized six guns, suspected counterfeit electrical goods and a suspected stolen vehicle.

A villager living near one of the raid sites in Worcestershire told the BBC that tonnes of waste were shredded at the site before being dumped elsewhere.

“The environmental impact is huge. Smoke comes out of the site every day and the smell is intoxicating at times.

“There were times during the summer months when we did not allow children to play outside because of the smell and fumes coming from the area,” he said.

The resident, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from those running the sites, added: “We know they were found with weapons. I know the people behind this. I know what they are capable of.”

Inspector Dave Wise, of West Mercia Police, said waste crime was “not a problem that can be solved overnight”.

But he added that police were carrying out complex investigations into organized crime gangs linked to money laundering and other financial crimes and people who “profit from environmental pollution”.

The owner of the Worcestershire site declined to comment when contacted by the BBC but had previously said the land was being let. The tenant did not respond to attempts to contact him.

Concerns about the extent of illegal waste activity hit the headlines at the end of last year. approximately 20,000 tons of waste It was illegally dumped in a field next to the A34 at Kidlington in Oxfordshire for several months.

But using the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) to request the data, the BBC discovered there were at least 11 sites larger than 20,000 tonnes.

The number is likely to be higher, as the Environment Agency acknowledged in its response to the EIR request that “this figure is based on the data we have available; however, we do not have this information for every site.”

Erica Popplewell, of environmental campaign group River Action, questioned why details of the largest areas were only made public in response to the BBC’s request for an EIR.

“Why doesn’t the Environment Agency make more public what’s going on so we can see what actions they’re taking and whether secrecy at landfills might be eroded?” he asked.

The agency has previously refused to provide the exact locations of the largest sites to avoid harming ongoing investigations.

But it turns out the six largest sites currently are in Northwich, Cheshire (280,000 tonnes); Camborne, Cornwall (50,000 tonnes); Burnley, Lancashire (25,000 and 50,000 tonnes); Sittingbourne, Kent (36,000 tons); Fakenham, Norfolk (originally 35,000 tons). Garbage dumping has been stopped in four districts, but none has been cleared yet.

In total, it was stated that in the 2024/25 period, activity at 743 illegal dump sites, 143 of which were high risk, was stopped, but 517 active dumps remained.

Emma Viner, the Environment Agency’s director of enforcement and investigations, added: “We share the public’s disgust at what is going on and the waste crime we are seeing and we are taking action.

“We close hundreds of illegal dump sites every year.

“But it’s a dynamic picture. Despite all the landfills we’re closing, we’re seeing more and more garbage appearing across the country.”

Baroness Sheehan, who chairs the House of Lords environment and climate change committee investigating waste crime, said the BBC’s investigation had “revealed widespread illegal waste dumping across the country”.

“Frankly, the measures taken by the government are not enough to deal with the problem,” he said.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman said: “We are working across government to eliminate illegal waste across the country and pay those responsible.

“We are directly supporting the Environment Agency to stop the exploitation of our waste system, giving them more officers and 50% more funding to increase enforcement of waste offenses and introducing tougher penalties for those who break the law.”