Gang dumps tonnes of waste in empty warehouse
The Environment Agency is appealing for witnesses to an audacious crime after approximately 3,000m³ of waste was dumped at a warehouse in Bedfordshire.
The organised criminal gang gained access by cutting a lorry-sized hole in the side of the warehouse.
The crime was discovered by the Environment Agency’s specialist waste crime officers after they were called to the warehouse in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
Investigations have revealed that during the nights between Saturday 16 November and Wednesday 20 November last year, around 3,000 cubic metres of waste was dumped illegally inside the warehouse on the former Ecomold site on Luton Road, Dunstable.
Environmental crime team leader Tracy Nash said: “This is not a matter of small scale fly-tipping, this case appears to be intentional large scale avoidance of disposal costs.
“This callous act has endangered the environment and had a costly impact for the land owner. It is vital that we identify where the waste came from and who transferred it to the warehouse. If an innocent party has handed it to a contractor for disposal in good faith then they won’t be in any trouble and may have critical information for us.
“The waste must have been taken to the site in several large vehicles, and with the hole having been cut in the side of the warehouse, we’re hopeful that someone may have seen something suspicious, such as tipper lorries or plant machinery on the site in mid November.”
UKWA CEO Roger Williams added: “This deplorable act of criminal vandalism serves to emphasise the need for high levels of security in and around warehouse buildings.”
The waste will shortly be removed at considerable expense to the landowner.
Anyone who has any information can contact the Environment Agency on 0800 807060 quoting CMS 16469 or if they wish to speak in confidence, to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Illegal waste sites are a growing problem nationally and the Environment Agency is committed to tackling this criminal activity. These waste sites are unlicensed, operate without any safeguards to the environment and undermine legitimate waste management companies who are undercut by illegal operators.
Those responsible for running illegal waste sites can be fined up to £50,000 in Magistrates’ courts, face unlimited fines in higher courts, as well as community punishment orders or prison sentences of up to five years.
Illegal dumping costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in clean up costs. The Environment Agency works in partnership with local authorities and the police to investigate these offences.
