Fly-tipping prosecutions down 95pc as criminals turn garbage into gold

Prosecutions for rubbish-dumping have dropped nearly 95 per cent in a decade, as the government agency fighting waste crime has been left “toothless” and let “criminals and cowboys take us all for a ride”, MPs have said.

The number of prosecutions for waste crime by the Environment Agency has dropped from nearly 800 a year in 2007-08 to around 50 per year in 2017-18, according to a new report from the National Audit Office.

Of the 632 illegal waste sites identified by the EA, only 28, or five per cent, resulted in a prosecution.

Meanwhile, nearly 90 per cent of the actions taken by the agency were either issuing advice and guidance or sending warning letters.

Industry insiders suggest that EA staff are too scared to investigate and pursue prosecutions into organised crime gangs that have turned waste into the “new narcotics”.

There are around 60 organised crime gangs monitored by police and the EA extensively involved in other criminal activity, including 70 per cent of in money laundering.

“Waste crime is increasingly dominated by organised criminal gangs, but the Environment Agency is fighting a losing battle,” said Meg Hillier MP, the chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts.

“With only £17 million a year to spend on enforcement, it is seen as toothless to tackle the lawbreaking and to bring criminals to book.

“Serious crime requires a serious response. Government can’t continue to let these criminals and cowboys take us all for a ride.”

She added: “Waste crime is not a victimless crime. Aside from being unsightly and polluting, it costs the economy almost £1 billion a year. Yet this may be just the tip of the iceberg.”

Fly-tipping has been steadily increasing over the last decade to reach 1.13 million in 2020-21, the NAO said, but the Government does not even collect enough data to understand the full scale of waste crime in the UK.

It added that large rises in the rates of landfill tax had increased returns for criminals, while reducing the amount sent to landfill by 75 per cent between 2010 and 2021.

Government 'legalising litter'

Up to a million cases of fly-tipping went unpunished in 2020-21, according to analysis by the Liberal Democrats, which accused the Government of “legalising littering”.

Jacob Hayler, the executive director of the Environmental Services Association, an industry body, said: “The findings of the NAO report illustrate perfectly why the waste sector is viewed as a soft target by criminals.

“It is very disappointing to see that the number of prosecutions has dropped considerably, while the incidences of waste crime have continued to rise, and frustrating that investigations, on average, are becoming drawn out across many years.”

Sir James Bevan, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, recently called for bigger fines and longer prison sentences for waste offences to “concentrate the criminal mind.”

“Our policy now is to try to stop waste crime before it happens,” he said. “One of the best ways to do that is to change how criminals calculate the odds, by imposing much tougher penalties on them if caught.

He added: “Waste crime causes harm to people and places, and it is on the rise. This is why we have created a robust new strategy which is intelligence-led, collaborative and high-tech, focusing on combating the worst criminals.

“We now share intelligence on criminals with our partners, resulting in more than 2,500 illegal waste sites being shut down permanently in the last three years.

“This is not an easy fight – but with the support of our partners we are determined to keep one step ahead of the criminals, shut them out of the system and move us towards an economy in which there is no space for waste crime.”