Government announces waste crime crackdown

Countryside Alliance says plan must be backed by sustained investment, coordination between EA, police and HMRC, and with an emphasis on prevention

The government has published its Waste Crime Action Plan, promising a tougher approach to the growing problem of illegal waste dumping and fly tipping, which costs the English economy £1 billion every year. An estimated 20% of all waste is illegally managed. 

The plan, spearheaded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency, champions a zero-tolerance stance on waste crime, with measures aimed at preventing offences at the source, strengthening enforcement and remediating the worst illegal sites. Offenders caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally face up to five years in prison.

Emma Reynolds, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, “This Action Plan sends a clear message: dump illegally and you will face the full consequences.  

“Waste criminals will be forced to join clean up squads and made to pay for the clearing of illegal waste sites. We will give enforcement officers new police-style powers to bring offenders to justice.” 

The Environment Agency is set to receive an additional £45 million in enforcement funding over the next three years. The government says this will allow the regulator to intervene earlier at illegal sites by increasing its on-the-ground activity. Local authorities will also be supported with new tools, including powers to seize assets and enhanced powers for enforcement officers. 

The Environment Agency will create a new Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit to identify and locate waste criminals using tools including aerial surveillance and financial data.

Defra and the Department for Transport will give courts the power to award penalty points on driving licences for fly-tipping offences too, with those responsible for the most serious cases potentially losing their licence altogether. 

The government will also introduce a Landfill Tax rebate for local authorities that step up to clear sites, while it will directly fund the clean-up of some of the worst illegal waste sites in the country including in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire, where a combined 48,000 tonnes of waste has been illegally dumped. 

Richard Fernandez, Head of Policy and External Affairs, CIEH, said, “We particularly welcome the strengthening of deterrents, enforcement measures and financial penalties for waste criminals outlined in the action plan to ensure the significant costs of the enforcement and investigation into these activities does not fall on already stretched local authority resources.”

He added that CIEH will be writing to Defra to understand how environmental health teams will be supported “to deliver their vital role”.

"New powers for the Environment Agency are only as good as the resources and political will behind them."

Clean Up Britain also welcomed the Plan but stated that: "New powers for the Environment Agency are only as good as the resources and political will behind them." It also urged the government to go further on the severity of penalties, stating that “fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping are often treated as a manageable cost of doing business.”

But Paul Stretesky, Professor of Criminology and criminological analysis of environmental harms at the University of Lincoln, suggests the emphasis should be on incentives not punishments.

He cites increasing access to permitted waste disposal sites and recycling centres, and making sure there is sufficient education around what is recyclable, as well as possibly offering financial incentives for recycling, and lowering the cost of disposing of household waste. “I think these types of ‘incentives’ to dispose of waste properly probably make more of a difference.”  

The Countryside Alliance raised concerns about whether the new measures go far enough. Sarah Lee, Policy Director at the Countryside Alliance said, “unless this plan is backed by sustained investment, proper coordination between the Environment Agency, police and HMRC, and an emphasis on stopping offences before they occur, it risks being another announcement that fails to deliver real impact on the ground.

“People across the countryside want to see criminals stopped before sites get out of control, not just cleaned up afterwards.”