PCCs join forces to tackle waste crime

4th June 2025 

                                                                                             

PCCs agree to work together to tackle waste crime 

 

A group of PCCs from the South East have agreed to join forces to crack down on and prevent illegal waste dumping.   

 

The National Audit Office estimates waste crime is costing the English economy £900m a year.  Local authorities report there were 1.15 million incidents of fly-tipping in 2023-2024, an increase of 6% on the previous year. 

 

Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott invited colleagues from Thames Valley, Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex to meet with representatives from the police, the Environment Agency, local government, land owning and farming groups, and representatives from the private sector. The roundtable event was held yesterday afternoon. 

It was agreed to commission a strategic review of the situation and an action plan which will focus on creating a joined-up approach across the region.   

 

Matthew Scott said:

“Large scale waste crime has become the new County Lines. Organised criminal groups are dumping tonnes of illegal and often hazardous waste all around the region, polluting our countryside and costing taxpayers and individual landowners hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up. What’s more, the money these gang are making from this illegal dumping often fuels other serious offending.   

 

It’s not an easy problem to resolve, as there are so many agencies involved, but we have agreed to work together to improve data gathering and sharing, reporting, response times and develop strategies to tackle this growing problem.  No agency can do this alone, so I’m delighted my colleagues and partners have agreed to pursue this programme together.” 

 

Phil Davies Joint Unit for Waste Crime Manager at the Environment Agency, said: 

“The Environment Agency is determined to crackdown on waste criminals, who harm our environment, trash local communities and steal business from legitimate operators.  

  

“The roundtable event, hosted by the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, was a great opportunity for partners to come together and agree how to collectively fight waste crime across the South East. By combining our resources and capabilities in partnership, we will make a significant difference to the impacts of waste crime to both the environment and communities.” 

 

Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, said:

“I was pleased to be able to join  PCC counterparts in the South East yesterday, as part of a Waste Crime roundtable organised by Kent OPCC. 

  

“Organised waste crime, such as fly tipping can be big business for criminals, both in the Thames Valley and across the South East. 

  

"Yesterday's meeting with fellow PCCs from across the South East along with councils, landowners and the Environment Agency is an important step to ensuring a joined up approach across the region." 

 

Donna Jones, Hampshire’s PCC said:

“People living in our rural and urban areas have made it clear that fly-tipping and organised waste crime is a blight on their communities. It destroys our countryside and helps fund organised crime gangs.  

 

We need a review of the sentencing judges and magistrates can give to these criminal gangs, including a greater use of prison sentences, suspended sentences and seizure of property linked to crime. 
  

Tackling waste crime needs a cross-border, multi-agency approach which I am pleased to be supporting.” 

 

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said:

"Waste crime is becoming an increasing problem in the South East and yesterday’s roundtable provided a timely opportunity to meet with fellow PCCs, police and rural partners to discuss prevention, disruption, data-sharing, enforcement and reporting.  

 

As I know through my national Pegasus partnership work tackling shop theft, conversations like these can lead to positive changes in protocol and procedures. It’s the only way to ensure the organised gangs behind these crimes are caught and our counties are purged of the scourge of illegal waste dumping.” 

 

Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Lisa Townsend, said:

“Yesterday’s summit marks the first time since I was first elected that all five south-eastern Police and Crime Commissioners have come together as a group to deal with a single issue. That shows how seriously we all take this criminal enterprise. 

 

The scale is astonishing. In just five years, agencies have dealt with 34million tonnes of waste – enough to fill 30 Wembley Stadiums.  Up to a fifth of all waste handled in the UK is done so illegally. 

 

While many will know of the link between county lines drug dealing and organised criminality, in truth, these groups don’t distinguish. They can earn a fortune from the commodity of waste, and this money fuels further serious offending that does such harm to communities across the country. 

 

I am delighted that policing, local government, HMRC, the Environment Agency, Heritage England and the National Farmers’ Union are forging strong partnerships to drive out offenders and return the UK’s waste industry to legitimate businesses.” 

 

 

 

 

 

ENDS 

 

 

Note to editors: 

 

Responsibility for waste dumping falls across several agencies. Local authorities are responsible for investigating, clearing and taking appropriate enforcement action in relation to small scale fly-tipping on public land. The Environment Agency is responsible for dealing with large-scale fly-tipping (more than a lorry load), hazardous waste and fly-tipping by organised gangs. On private land, it is normally the responsibility of the landowner to remove the waste.