A recent Sunday Times investigation highlights the alarming scale of illegal waste activity..
An estimated 38 million tonnes of waste — enough to fill Wembley Stadium 35 times — is believed to be illegally managed each year, costing taxpayers around £1 billion.
This ranges from roadside fly-tipping to vast illegal waste sites run by organised crime groups, often described as operating in a way similar to drug trafficking due to the profits involved.
Analysis using satellite imagery by Air and Space Evidence, cited during a House of Lords inquiry, estimates there are around 5,900 illegal waste sites across England.
In contrast, the Environment Agency (EA) shut down 743 sites in 2024–25, while some investigations have remained open for more than a decade.
If the statistics are to be believed, 743 sites represents a clean up rate of 12.5% and that is after the damage has been done.
Legitimate waste companies can charge up to £450 per tonne for non-recyclable commercial waste due to transport costs, landfill gate fees, and landfill tax.
Criminal operators undercut this by offering suspiciously “competitive” rates — often only slightly cheaper — to avoid raising alarm.
According to the Environmental Services Association (ESA), a single illegally dumped 28-tonne lorry-load can allow criminals to avoid more than £4,000 in taxes and fees.
Businesses may unknowingly hand waste to illegitimate operators, who then process it crudely and dump it on private land, sometimes without the landowner’s knowledge.
In other cases, landowners may be complicit.
These activities can generate tens of thousands of pounds a week and have even been linked to intimidation and threats against council and EA staff.
Efforts to tackle waste crime are hampered by limited resources and inconsistent intelligence sharing between councils, police, and the EA.
Although a joint waste crime unit was set up to improve coordination, critics argue it has been uneven in effectiveness.
The EA has acknowledged the issue and says it is increasing staffing to strengthen enforcement.
For businesses producing general or hazardous waste, the message is clear:
using licensed, compliant waste carriers protects you from legal risk, supports recycling, and helps stop organised crime.
Choosing legitimate waste collection and transport services ensures waste is handled responsibly, lawfully, and in line with England’s environmental regulations — safeguarding communities, land, and the environment for the long term.
If the statistics are to be believed, 743 sites represents a clean up rate of 12.5% and that is after the damage has been done.
In the Sunday Times report, illegal waste dumping at a site in Burnley, culminating in 30,000 tons has been going on for two years despite residents complaints to the council, collected photographic evidence, and though the EA claimed it was "inactive and closed" nobody seems to have told those who are actually dumping the waste, as witnessed by the Sunday Times.
Traditional approaches to tracking waste rely heavily on vehicle movements and paperwork trails.
Once waste is unloaded, that trail often ends — creating opportunities for records to be altered and waste to disappear into illegal sites.
New satellite-based approaches are changing this picture by shifting the focus from tracking vehicles to tracking the waste itself.
Innovations developed by Air & Space Evidence use satellite imagery, GNSS data and advanced algorithms to identify, analyse and monitor waste activity across vast areas.
This allows regulators and industry to confirm where waste actually ends up, rather than relying solely on declared movements. The result is earlier detection, stronger deterrence and a more transparent waste system.
Crucially, this technology enables authorities to routinely scan large parts of the country for previously unknown illegal waste sites — something that was not feasible under traditional inspection models or limited regulatory budgets.
By identifying sites early and prioritising them based on environmental risk and criminal intent, enforcement can be faster, more targeted and far more cost-effective.
Early identification of illegal waste sites reduces exposure to hazardous materials, uncontrolled fires, toxic fumes and vermin. Preventing sites from growing unchecked protects nearby communities, farm land and workers, improving overall environmental safety.
Illegal dumping poses a serious risk to groundwater and surface water through leachate, oils and chemical runoff. Detecting and stopping activity early limits long-term contamination of aquifers, rivers and wetlands — damage that can otherwise persist for decades and cost millions to remediate.
When waste is handled through legitimate channels, fees, landfill tax and permitting charges are paid to the appropriate authorities. This increases funding available for environmental protection, recycling infrastructure and enforcement, rather than profits being diverted into organised crime.
Illegal disposal removes valuable materials from the circular economy. By ensuring waste reaches licensed facilities, more material can be recycled or recovered, reducing reliance on virgin raw materials and supporting a sustainable resource chain.
Clearing illegal waste sites is expensive, slow and disruptive. Early detection means fewer large-scale clean-ups, allowing limited public resources to be redirected toward prevention, compliance monitoring and education, rather than repairing avoidable damage.
Visible enforcement and effective detection help promote the image of a functioning, trustworthy recycling economy. When the public sees waste crime being tackled, confidence grows — encouraging households and businesses alike to adopt best practice in waste segregation and disposal.
Greater oversight benefits legitimate waste carriers, whether lower or upper tier. It creates a level playing field by discouraging rogue operators and reinforcing the importance of due diligence, compliance and professional standards across the sector.
By ensuring waste goes to the right facility, satellite-led monitoring supports higher recycling rates and reduces unnecessary landfill use. This directly contributes to national environmental targets and a lower carbon footprint for waste management.
Satellite monitoring and intelligent data analysis are not just enforcement tools — they are catalysts for a cleaner environment, a fairer waste industry and a more resilient recycling economy. Early detection, combined with legitimate waste collection and transport, helps move England away from waste crime and towards a system where resources are recovered, communities are protected and compliance is the norm.
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