Households are unwittingly fuelling flytipping and organised crime by falling victim to social media scammers offering to get rid of their waste on the cheap, experts have warned.
The number of incidents where entire tipper lorry loads of waste have been illegally dumped in England has increased by 150 per cent in the last 10 years, according to official data analysed by .
Recent examples include 100 tons load of waste that was left blocking a county road in Lichfield last month, and 50 full black bin bags being dumped near a Bournemouth parish church.
Officials warn that more than £13million-a-year cost of clearing up this waste is only one part of the problem, with gangs muscling in on the waste disposal sector to support their criminal activities.
They say gangsters are using the money handed to them by households to dispose of rubbish to fund their illicit activities, or using bogus waste firms as fronts to launder the proceeds of crimes involving drugs and firearms.
John Roberts, chief operating officer at Kingdom Local Authority Support, said ordinary Brits were being duped by scammers offering waste collection services on platforms like Facebook.
He told : ‘Within Facebook there are local groups and people are posting to say that they have waste in their garden and they want someone to dispose of it. Then someone is picking it up and flytipping it.
‘We’ve seen on some of the CCTV footage that we have where 20-tonne trucks are pulling up, removing their numberplates and then dumping the waste. So clearly that’s a bigger operation and we often track waste back to multiple households.’
Mr Roberts, who helps councils inspect illegally dumped waste to try to identify the perpetrators, noted that households can be fined up to £5,000 if they do not take responsible measures to ensure their waste is lawfully disposed of.
This means that you can be prosecuted for handing your waste to a company that subsequently illegally dumps it, even if you thought it was legitimate.
He urged anyone handing rubbish to a company to ask for a copy of a waste transfer note, which provides details of where each load is being taken to.
‘Members of the public now have a responsibility to know where their waste goes, so you should ask for a copy of a waste transfer note – that way you can protect yourself from prosecution.
‘Sometimes when we go out with councils and investigate fly tips we find names and addresses, which can help us work out where it comes from.’
There were 28,681 incidents where tipper lorry loads of rubbish were dumped in England in 2022/23 – a rise of 18 per cent on the year.
Despite the number of large flytipping incidents increasing year on year, the number of incidents of all sizes dropped by one per cent to 1.08 million.
Over the ten years to 2022/23, overall flytipping incidents rose by 51 per cent and large ones by 149 per cent.
The Environment Agency announced last year that it was setting up an Economic Crime Unit to tackle waste crime.
‘We know organised criminals who make their money through serious and organised crimes, such as drugs and firearms, are using the waste management sector to launder money,’ it said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
‘Before long they start to commit waste crimes, establishing themselves as bogus waste businesses, collecting waste from unsuspecting people, stealing business away from waste businesses that are working legally.’
The shocking incident in Lichfield left residents of a nearby hamlet cut off after the rubbish blocked the only access road to homes and businesses.
The ten-foot-high, 80ft long mound of rotting waste cost an estimated £10,000 to clean up.
Farmer Nick Hollinshead came across the mess at 6am as he headed to feed his cattle in a nearby feed.
‘I just could not believe my eyes,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how anybody could do such a thing.
‘There are people who live on this lane who are now completely cut off. No emergency vehicle could get through.’
The compacted rubbish included building rubble, fencing, vast amounts of plastic as well as shoes, a hairdryer and at least two England flags.
While criminals sometimes drop waste at some location before moving on to another, there have been cases of huge illegal dumps being used for a longer period before being shut down by the authorities.
One vast site busted in 2023 contained 200 tonnes of waste spread out over fields in Congleton, Cheshire.
Drone footage revealed the sheer scale of the litter – which included orange juice cartons, plastic bags and tin cans – is located next to rural fields with horses grazing.
Cheshire Police seized a large HGV truck at the scene carrying 35 tonnes of rubbish intended to be added to the pile.
While organised gangs are often able to take part in waste crime without being caught, councils say they are prioritising the issue.
In August, a man was arrested in Harlow, Essex, in relation to large-scale, organised fly-tipping across several counties including Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.
Investigations are continuing, the officials told .