Our top waste crime stories

The Environment Agency, working with Natural England, has launched an investigation into the large-scale, illegal dumping of waste at the Cave’s Inn Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near Shawell, Leicestershire. The site is well-concealed but on receiving reports of odours from the public, Environment Agency and Natural England officers visited the site last week. They discovered significant amounts of household waste had been dumped at the site, causing pollution to the SSSI. The site is believed to hold approximately 30,000 tonnes of shredded waste in layers with soil used to cover it. The public are urged to stay away from the site whilst the investigation is ongoing.

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Following a major investigation by the Environment Agency, a gang of four has been sentenced to prison for conspiracy to illegally dump controlled waste across six sites in London. Patrick Doherty received 28 months, and Martin Ward received 18 months. Michael Ward (also known as Martin McCann) and Simon O’Donnell both received 14 months suspended for 2 years. The group carried out a sophisticated and calculated criminal operation that caused devastation to businesses and landowners.

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Waste criminals are running out of places to hide as the government launches its Digital Waste Tracking service to follow every piece of permitted waste across the country in real time. As part of its major crackdown on waste crime under the government’s Waste Crime Action Plan, new laws being laid in parliament will require businesses to create a real-time audit trail for the waste they handle. At the moment, waste consignments are tracked using a largely paper based and outdated system that is overly bureaucratic for legitimate operators and fails to give law enforcement the vital intelligence they need to build cases against waste criminals.

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Devon waste carrier David Gorton has been told to pay £17,527 after he deposited waste at a site near Kingsteignton in Devon which was operating illegally. Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court heard that Gorton, aged 59, of Denbury Road, Newton Abbot, deposited 1,368 tonnes of soil and stone at the illegal site between 19 July 2018 and 16 May 2019, whilst operating as a registered waste carrier. Following Monday’s hearing Gorton was fined £1,466 and told to pay back the economic benefit he realised by his illegal activity of £12,300 after pleading guilty to the illegal deposit of controlled waste and failing to comply with his duty of care as a waste carrier.

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Clearance is underway on a West Yorkshire illegal waste site following court action by the Environment Agency. Andrew Leadbeater, 57, was ordered to clear the site at Wyke Lane, Wyke, in Bradford by 17 June after pleading guilty to waste offences on Friday 17 April at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court. Work had already started on the clearance ahead of the hearing.

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A company and its director have been given a month to clear an illegal waste site or risk further court action. They’ve also been ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £20,000 after an Environment Agency investigation into the operation in South Yorkshire. Concept Investments Limited, of London Road, Sheffield, and its director, Austin Fitzgerald, 65, of the same address, both appeared at South Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on Wednesday 15 April.

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A major clean-up operation is now underway in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, where trucks have begun removing mountains of illegally dumped waste, the Environment Agency has announced today (Tuesday 14 April 2026). The operation - led by the Environment Agency and carried out by Acumen Waste Services Ltd - will see an estimated 21,000 tonnes of commercial and household waste, including tyres, shredded plastic, and household rubbish, dug up and removed from the notorious illegal waste site.

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The owner of a company hiring out rubbish skips in Essex has pleaded guilty to a range of offences over how the business was run. Roy Brett’s yard is nestled in green fields near Braintree, but he ignored repeated warnings about the amount of skips and waste built up at the site through his company, RJ Brett Contracts Ltd, which also admitted breaking the law.

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Waste companies that operate in Bristol, Cornwall and Devon investigated over waste regulations and will pay £28,500 to environmental charities. Three South West-based waste companies have had to pay out large sums of money for environmental projects after failing to comply with their legal obligations. The Environment Agency investigated Winfield Transport Limited, Ranjit Farming and Gwella Contracting Services Ltd over a failure to comply with waste regulations.

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than £142,000 for illegally exporting contaminated plastic waste across the world to Malaysia. 3R Technology UK Ltd, based at Longbridge Road in Preston, and Director Yulin Wang, 56, of Haighton Drive in Preston appeared at Preston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 24 March where they pleaded guilty to 16 charges. The court heard the company exported waste falsely described as clean plastic, when it was actually contaminated with electrical waste, including wiring and circuit boards and other mixed waste.

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