Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle has formed a Waste Crime Crackdown Group of police, regulators and local leaders to target organised waste crime, Defra said on Wednesday.
The group, which Eagle chairs, brings together ministers, police, Mayors and local authorities. Its stated job is to identify the weaknesses in the waste system that criminals exploit and to remove blockers to change.
At its first meeting, members will discuss stepping up enforcement against gangs profiting from illegal dumping and improving how they share intelligence. Eagle will ask the group to examine where enforcement powers can go further.
Eagle said tougher enforcement was already producing arrests, but that the targets were organised criminals and “we must keep up the pressure” to disrupt their operations.
Philip Duffy, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said getting criminals out of the waste system needs “everyone to work together” across police, regulators and local government. He said sharing more intelligence can stop criminals getting hold of waste in the first place.
Defra said 36 arrests have been made since April, with prosecutions, investigations and raids taking place across the country. Duffy put the figure at more than 30, and said assets had been seized and permits stripped from operators.
Environment Agency officers are using more drones, Mayors are being given a bigger role and fines for illegal dumping are rising.
Those who dump waste illegally or fail to treat it correctly are set to face fines of up to £5,000, up from a maximum of £300.
The government also plans to give the agency powers to confiscate cash, cars, houses and other assets bought with the proceeds of waste crime.
The illegal sites at Kidlington and Hoad’s Wood have been completely cleared, and police have arrested suspects while investigations continue. Work continues on clearing Bolton House Road in Wigan, where 18,000 tonnes of waste was dumped, and Midland Road in Bradford.
The Environment Agency received 10,238 reports of suspected waste crime in 2025. The West Midlands had the most, at 1,542, followed by Yorkshire with 1,068. Only an estimated 27 per cent of waste crimes are ever reported.
The Mayor of West Yorkshire will be one of the first to take a new region-led approach to tackling waste crime.
A digital waste tracking service is being introduced from October 2026 to make it easier to follow the movement of waste. From 2027, the regime for waste carriers, brokers and dealers moves from registration to a permitted system with stricter rules.
Waste crime costs the English economy £1 billion a year, and an estimated 20 per cent of all waste is illegally managed, the government’s Waste Crime Action Plan states.
That plan backed an extra £45 million over three years for Environment Agency enforcement, against an enforcement budget of £10 million in 2024/25.
John Scanlon, chair of the Environmental Services Association, welcomed that funding and said legitimate industry would play its part by sharing intelligence to help catch criminals.
Members of the public are advised to check that a waste carrier is registered before hiring a skip or private collection service.
Large-scale dumping and waste crime can be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers or the Environment Agency, on 0800 555 111 or the agency’s 24-hour incident hotline, 0800 80 70 60.