Environment Agency faces landfill tax bill worth millions to clear illegal waste | Waste
Millions of pounds of landfill duty owed to the government must be paid by the Environment Agency (EA) if any of the thousands of illegal landfills across the country are cleaned up.
Of the £15 million taxpayers are paying to clean up the only site the agency has committed to cleaning up – the massive illegal dump at Hoad’s Wood in Kent – £4 million is landfill duty.
John Russell, a Liberal Democrat who helped the agency clear Hoad’s Wood, described the situation as ridiculous.
“It is utterly unhelpful to make the EA pay landfill tax to the illegal dump sites they are trying to clean up,” Russell said. “I strongly encourage the Treasury to take an urgent, fresh, cold look at these regulations.”
The cost of the landfill tax is seen as another reason why the EA has not taken action to clean up even the worst landfills across the country.
In Wigan, local MP Josh Simons is calling on the EA to clear 25,000 tonnes of rubbish that has been dumped by criminals on a residential street near a primary school for several months.
The agency is refusing to clear waste from Bolton House Road in Bickershaw, despite the impact on young children and residents. It launched a criminal investigation and sent formal notices to those with interests in the land, demanding that the waste be removed and threatening legal action if they did not do so.
The illegal dump on Bolton House Road is partly located in a children’s sports area and poses an environmental hazard due to rat infestation, air pollution and foul odor.
A parent who did not want to give his name said, “My children have to go to school every day because of that smell and air pollution, and they cannot play outside on the field anymore. But there is no urgency to clean it.”
The cost of the clean-up, including having to pay landfill duty on the rubbish, is estimated at £4.5 million.
Another resident said he felt they had been left to suffer in silence, especially after politicians and the media focused on a mountain of rubbish recently discovered in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
“Thousands of tonnes of illegally dumped waste have been left to rot here,” he said. “That’s a lot of household waste, so you can imagine the problems it causes – odors, flies, mice. Like some of our neighbors, we’ve developed an infestation in our attics and walls. This is a serious environmental and public health failure.”
A fire broke out at the landfill in July and continued for nine days, forcing the school to close and residents to close all windows and doors to avoid toxic fumes.
Simons, the Labor Party MP for Makerfield, said that he warned the EA when 20 truckloads of rubbish began to be dumped a day in January, but there was no intervention.
“The impact of this apparent crime continues to be very severe on the community in Bickershaw,” he said. “From lost days at school when a pile catches fire to closed windows on extremely hot days, they shouldn’t have to put up with this.”
Organized crime groups are turning to criminal waste because of the millions they can make from a criminal enterprise that costs taxpayers £1bn a year.
Gangs are making millions by taking advantage of the rubbish tax of £126 per tonne. By pocketing landfill duty and diverting waste to illegal dumps, criminals can make up to £2,500 for every truckload of waste they dump.
Russell said making the agency pay the tax shows a complete lack of a unified government that allows criminals to get away with their crimes while ordinary people suffer.
“We have a bad system and everything is swept under the rug and there is no accountability,” he said. He wants full transparency from the agency about organized criminals who illegally dump thousands of tonnes of waste.
“We can’t deal effectively with what we don’t know. More than the numbers, we need the location, the sizes, the types of waste and what measures are being taken to clean up these enormous, huge piles of waste,” Russell said.
An EA spokesman said a criminal investigation was ongoing in Wigan and littering was being treated as a critical incident.
“[We are] “We are using all the powers and enforcement tools at our disposal to bring perpetrators to justice and make them pay for this crime,” they said. “Our capable officers are often in the field and on the front lines, or with the impact this illegal waste has on the local community in mind.”
Wigan council said it was part of a multi-agency partnership, including the EA and Greater Manchester police, to prevent further criminal activity in the area and minimize risks and impact on neighboring residents.
The council said: “We understand the impact this site is having on the local community and want the site to be cleaned up urgently. Unfortunately, the legal and financial environment for clearing illegal dumping sites is complex.”
