UNDER the cover of darkness came the giant lorries – tipping their rotting loads into an empty field.
Almost every night for two months, rubbish including festering food, shredded plastic, wood, bottles, tyres and even dirty nappies was dumped on an ever-growing putrid pile.
Hidden by a heavy treeline, the 20ft-high mountain of waste was only discovered when the autumn leaves started falling, exposing the gigantic mound off the A34 near Kidlington in Oxfordshire.
The Sun can today reveal that the 490ft-long heap is the tip of the iceberg in a growing criminal enterprise which nets gangs millions of pounds every year.
They pose as legitimate firms or individual collectors specialising in disposal, but then dump rubbish to avoid taking it to landfill, where it can cost as much as £150 a tonne to dispose of.
Experts say the same organised gangs are also involved in wider activities such as human trafficking, drugs and money laundering.
One warned this was criminality on “a huge scale”, and not just a white van man offering to get rid of rubbish cheaply on Facebook.
The gangs even threaten and “intimidate” legitimate companies to help them get rid of rubbish, or blackmail landfill bosses to dispose of trash on the cheap.
Last year saw more than 100 large-scale fly-tipping events across the UK, with illegal dumping costing the taxpayer a staggering £1billion.
Most of the Oxfordshire rubbish pile has been shredded, meaning it was most likely taken to a transfer station to be crushed, which makes it easier to transport. But it is estimated the gang could have saved £100,000 on landfill fees by simply ditching it.
Criminal networks
More than 38million tonnes of waste is dumped illegally in the UK every year — enough to fill Wembley Stadium 35 times. Yet gangs can get their hands on permits to pick up trash for less than £200.
Regulations are so lax that even a DOG can get permission.
The Environment Agency, in charge of giving out permits, carries out so few checks on applications that an investigator working with the industry’s watchdog was once able to get his West Highland terrier Oscar the paperwork.
We can also reveal that gangs cost one of the UK’s biggest waste companies Biffa, which has major contracts with local councils, the NHS and Government departments, more than £800,000 between April 2023 and 2024.
Gangs nicked 102 of Biffa’s containers to run their illegal businesses.
In hot-spot Yorkshire, 20 have been stolen over the past year, with just one recovered by police using GPS location data.
Biffa’s head of environment, Fraser James, said: “Waste crime is one of the most complex challenges facing our industry, from illegal dumping to fraudulent movements of waste, to theft of containers and vehicles.
“The causes are varied, such as landfill tax evasion or money laundering, and can involve organised criminal networks.”
Fraser said 20 per cent of the UK’s rubbish is managed by rogue waste traders. In 2023, a gang tipped more than 30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste at Hoads Wood, near Ashford in Kent — a site designated as being of scientific interest due to its rare plants and wildlife.
In May this year, a “stream of lorries” was spotted off-loading mainly shredded plastics at farmland near Sittingbourne, Kent.
The same month, a huge lorry was caught on film allegedly dumping trash in a field off the A13 near Stanford-le-Hope, Thurrock. A man was later arrested by police.
Someone clearly thought, ‘We’ll make loads more money if we just stick it in this field’. I thought waste was regulated in this county, but apparently not
Ruth French
The huge mound in Oxfordshire has stunned locals, who were unaware of it sitting behind the line of trees until earlier this month.
Ruth French, who lives about half a mile from the site, said she had “no idea” people were dumping trash, while others reported hearing lorries regularly coming in and out of the site at night.
She added: “Someone clearly thought, ‘We’ll make loads more money if we just stick it in this field’.
“I thought waste was regulated in this county, but apparently not.”
Dog walker Lindsay, flanked by his dachshund Oatis, said: “I know people living in Hampton Poyle who have seen lorries pulling up to that field, but didn’t really think much of it.
“They must have done it at night to get that much refuse down without people noticing. It’s bizarre.”
A source told The Sun how the gang were brazen enough to build an entrance to the site in June before tipping the massive pile between July and September.
They said: “They weren’t trying to hide what they were doing.
“Most of it was done at night. The lorries were noisy, but the operation was probably helped by the fact farmers had started to harvest fields and people probably imagined that’s what was going on.”
Local resident Matthew Brook said the fact the pile wasn’t near any houses “allowed it to go unnoticed”.
They weren’t trying to hide what they were doing. Most of it was done at night
A source
He added: “We’ve had fly-tipping before in the field opposite our house and lots of residents complained. It was eventually sorted. But it was nothing like this.”
Paula Donaghy, a carer and animal rescuer, said the area had suffered from fly-tipping, with household items left on the edge of fields and waste dumped in a farmer’s field “with needles in it. That was grim”.
The Government’s Environment Agency has sealed off the site, but there are fears the nearby River Cherwell could be contaminated with toxins feeding into the waterways of the Thames.
Intimidation and threats
Laura Reineke, chief executive of charity Friends Of The Thames, said: “This is a biodiversity nuclear bomb. It’s not secured, so plastic bags can just blow off into the wild. You can see batteries and all sorts in it.
“It’s on a flood plain, so we are concerned about the health of the river. It’s risen with all the rain we’ve had lately and the footpath alongside it is already covered in rubbish.”
The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee last month recommended the Government launch an independent review into what it described as a “fundamentally broken system” for tackling waste crime.
It found efforts to rectify the issue had been “critically under-prioritised” despite it being “endemic”.
This is a biodiversity nuclear bomb. It’s not secured, so plastic bags can just blow off into the wild
Laura Reineke, chief executive of charity Friends Of The Thames
A report also outlined the threats made by gangmasters to legitimate disposal firms who would not agree to process their waste as rubble or soil, which is far cheaper to get rid of at around £2 per tonne.
In written evidence to the Lords, Biffa said: “Waste companies can be an attractive option for gangs seeking money-laundering activities.
“However, rising costs associated with legitimate waste management — driven by tighter legislation, landfill taxes and regulatory requirements — has also created an opportunity for a flourishing black market for waste services.
“Organised crime groups exploit this by offering cheaper disposal options that undercut lawful operators, attracting both unscrupulous businesses and unsuspecting clients.
“These groups are highly agile, moving between locations and quickly adapting their methods to exploit weaknesses in the system.
“Emboldened by inconsistent enforcement and weak information-sharing across regions, many of these groups have grown in scale and sophistication over recent years.
“Moreover, organised crime gangs active in the waste sector are often involved in other serious criminal activities, with evidence suggesting involvement in theft, drugs and human trafficking, and violence.”
Figures from the trade body Environmental Services Association (ESA) show criminal activity in the sector costs £1billion annually — £40million more than ten years ago.
ESA head of regulation Sam Corp told us: “Criminals are attracted to the sector because there’s low risk for high reward.
“They profit by getting paid to properly dispose of waste by a company or householder, but dumping it avoids the true cost of waste disposal.
“To get a permit to operate a facility is relatively difficult, but at the other end of the scale, to get a permit to collect waste from business costs less than £200 and there are few checks and balances.
“We put forward proposals to tighten the regulations ten years ago and we’ve seen commitments from governments, but nothing meaningful has happened.
“The rubbish pile at Kidlington has been shredded and isn’t just skip waste, so it’s gone through some sort of machine to compact it down for transportation.
“The waste would usually be taken to a landfill site, but fees there can be as high as £150 a tonne.
It’s destroying the nature and beauty of Oxfordshire
Nicky Boughton
“We estimate the pile weighs up to 1,000 tonnes, so whoever left it has probably saved around £100,000 in landfill fees and gate taxes.
“These companies can appear legitimate and may even have a site and a permit, and in some cases perhaps a shredder hidden away in a farmer’s shed or barn.
“This isn’t just a white van driver offering to get rid of rubbish for a few quid on Facebook. This is huge scale criminality.” The clean-up operation in Kidlington is expected to take several months.
In nearby Hampton Poyle, Nicky Boughton, who was litter picking with her husband, said: “Whoever dumped all the waste really made a big bloody mess of the place.
“People think that because we’re quite remote around here that no one will care or notice. But we do. It’s destroying the nature and beauty of Oxfordshire.”
Monica, who also lives nearby, said: “We’re so lucky to live in a beautiful place, but to have people coming and spoiling it is horrible.”
The Environment Agency director Anna Burns said: “I share the public’s complete disgust at this shocking case of environmental crime.
“We took immediate action to stop the illegal tipping in Kidlington and, working with partners across Oxfordshire, we are hunting those responsible to deliver justice.”
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