EA – Lowest number of active illegal waste sites recorded since data began in 2009/10

Environment Agency (EA) releases data showing the lowest number of active illegal waste sites recorded since data began in 2009/2010.

This week the Environment Agency released the 2019 data on regulated businesses in England on compliance ratings, pollution inventory, pollution incidents, enforcement and waste crime for 2019.

The data included the waste crime summary data for 2019-2020. The waste types include Household and/or Commercial, Construction and Demolition, End of Life Vehicles / Vehicle Parts, Tyres, WEEE, Hazardous, Scrap metal and other.

In 2019/2020 (the figure cover 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020), the number of active illegal waste sites recorded by the EA  was 544, a decrease of 141 compared to the previous year. This latest figure is the lowest number of active illegal waste sites recorded since the data began in 2009/10.

Number of Active Illegal Waste Sites

Active Illegal Waste Site by Waste Types

The number of Illegal Waste Sites involving End of Life Vehicles / Vehicle Parts where the EA has stopped illegal activity was 118 at the end of 2019/2020. The number of sites stopped involving tyres was 23 in the same period.

And the latest figure for the number of new illegal waste sites involving ELVs /vehicle parts was 109, lower than the previous figure of 147 recorded between 2017 and 2018.

By way of a definition, the EA says:

“Illegal waste sites operate without a permit, are organised and involve multiple loads of waste being treated, stored or disposed. The activities may be known to the landowner or occupier and run as a business.

“Permit breaches and fly-tipping are not illegal waste sites, however, exempt sites operating outside their conditions and permitted sites operating outside of their permitted boundary are illegal waste sites.”

To see further information go to www.gov.uk/government/publications