Toxic air and nosebleeds: How less than 1% of landfill leaks end in court or fines

The Environment Agency [1] has investigated almost 1,500 pollution [2] incidents relating to landfill sites in the past decade but less than 1 per cent have led to a prosecution, i can reveal. Around 500 landfill [3] sites remain in operation across England and Wales despite pledges by previous Conservative governments to reduce the amount of residual waste [4] that cannot be recycled [5]. Although some “black bag” waste is sent to Energy from Waste (EFW) plants in the UK or Europe where it is burnt to generate electricity, industry insiders say most are running at capacity so it often has to go to landfill instead.

The recent reopening or expansion of landfill sites has brought misery to a growing number of communities who say the toxic air causes a wide range of health problems [6] including breathing difficulties, headaches, nose bleeds and damage to mental well-being. Landfill sites are regulated by the Environment Agency (EA), which has responsibility for deciding whether bad odours should be considered a breach of permit and therefore a pollution incident. The regulator also looks at other potential breaches such as operators accepting hazardous materials that shouldn’t be going into landfill, or a failure to stop harmful chemicals leaking into nearby waterways.

But as with the sewage scandal [7] which has seen water companies dumping pollution in rivers and seas under the nose of the EA for years, critics say the regulator has also proved to be toothless in holding operators to account. Figures obtained by i via a Freedom of Information request show the EA launched 1,446 investigations into pollution incidents linked to landfill sites between 2015 and 2023, an average of 160 a year but only 43 enforcement notices were served and just six cases resulted in criminal proceedings. Even those that did go to court led to only minor punishment.

Environment Agency investigations into landfill pollution

The number of investigations carried out by the EA:

2014 – 34 “serious” pollution incidents*
2015 – 190
2016 – 159
2017 – 94
2018 – 170
2019- 227
2020 – 224
2021 – 159
2022 – 118
2023 – 105

Total investigations that resulted in enforcement notices since 2014: 43

Total investigations that resulted in court proceedings since 2014: 6 Source: Defra Freedom of Information request *method of data collection changed after 2014

Last year, the EA secured convictions against Octagon Green Solutions Ltd, its director Kevin John Wanless, and Recyclogical Ltd relating to the Blaydon Quarry landfill site in Gateshead. They pleaded guilty to a series of offences relating to litter in June 2018, accepting too much waste on to the site in the same year and odour issues in February 2019. Recyclogical Ltd was ordered to pay more than GBP70,000 in fines and costs, while Octagon Green Solutions Ltd was fined GBP1,800 and its director, Wanless, just GBP450.

Campaigners told i they have no faith in the EA to force landfill operators to take action against operators blighting their community. In Fleetwood, Lancashire [8], locals believed the Jameson Road landfill site which covers 63 hectares beside the River Wyre had closed permanently in 2017. However, operator Suez had simply stopped accepting waste because it was no longer commercially viable.

A large landfill site that had been closed for seven years has been reopend in Fleetwood, Lancashire (Photo: Jess Brown)

Last year, new operator Transwaste took over the site and reopened the landfill, causing a horrific stench which could be detected up to three miles away, residents said.

Jess Brown, who lives nearby, told i the smell has left her seven-year-old daughter who has asthma struggling to breathe while her mother who suffers with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) has been physically sick. “It’s been a disaster for Fleetwood,” Ms Brown said. Local leaders at Wyre Borough Council and Lancashire County Council have been inundated with complaints for the past six months but say there’s little more they can do other than point them to the EA.

In a statement provided to i by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which handles media inquiries on behalf of the EA, the regulator has promised it “will not hesitate to take regulatory action”. But campaigners say they have seen little evidence the EA is taking much action to date. “I think they are so far down the rabbit hole worrying about bad press they are not doing anything,” Ms Brown said. “They keep just avoiding questions and not providing any answers.

“Even when evidence is presented to them they do nothing about it, they just say ‘we’ll look into it’ and nothing comes of it. “I’m shocked by how few prosecutions they’ve carried out, it’s not good to hear.”

Jess Brown, right, is leading a group of residents who want action (Photo: i)

Transwaste says no new waste has been tipped at the Fleetwood site since the EA issued an enforcement notice in May due to the odour problems. The company has now installed a plastic liner which it says should improve the issue in the long term.

“The installation of the liner is now complete and the area (26,000 sq metres) is capped as agreed,” a spokesperson for Transwaste said. “The Environment Agency is now studying the validation report and we await their approval.” In Pilsworth, Greater Manchester, a landfill site has been in place for decades but last year operator Valencia, known previously as Viridor, began a significant expansion of it. In a briefing paper published by Viridor, the company said if it did not go ahead “from 2023 there will be no landfill facilities in Greater Manchester to accept residual waste”.

Such is the scale of the operation, the smell has disturbed residents in both Bury and Heywood, two towns that are four miles apart. Earlier this year, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham [9] called for an “urgent” meeting with environment officials after he visited the site and was “taken aback” by the stench.

Residents protest over the reopening of the Jameson Road landfill site in Fleetwood, Lancashire (Photo: Jess Brown)

Angela Brown, a Labour councillor in Heywood, said the number of complaints she received in January about the issue was “insane”. “People were complaining from miles and miles away,” she told i. “I could smell it in my house on the other side of Heywood.”

The Pilsworth landfill now rises above the nearby M66 motorway and has become an unwanted local landmark. “A lot of residents can see it from the their houses, it is like a new hill on the landscape,” Ms Brown added. The EA recently installed a new facility to test air quality in the area surrounding the Pilsworth site but Ms Brown says the regulator has been reluctant to share data.

“They don’t want to cause panic… but at the same time, how dare they?” she said. “People need to make decisions for their own health.” A spokesperson for Valencia said: “Our Pilsworth landfill site plays an important role supporting regional waste disposal services, the site holds an environmental permit, issued and regulated by the Environment Agency to ensure the site does not cause harm to human health or the environment. “In recent months, Valencia has invested significantly to install additional capping and gas well infrastructure to further manage the site.”

In Newcastle-under-lyme, Staffordshire, the local council became so exasperated by the EA’s lack of action over the Walleys Quarry landfill site, which has been causing odour problems since 2020, it decided to pursue its own legal action. In April it asked the government for permission to take the operator Walleys Quarry Ltd, a subsidiary of Red Industries Ltd, to court. The council served the operator with an abatement notice in 2021 requiring it to control odours and has now begun the process of gathering its own evidence and instructing a King’s Counsel barrister to take the matter further.

If their application is approved by new Environment Secretary Steve Reed the council is hoping to secure a hearing at the High Court later this year, i understands.

A spokesperson for Walleys Quarry said: “The landfill site holds an environmental permit and is stringently regulated by the Environment Agency to ensure the onsite activities do not cause harm to human health or the environment. “We play a vital role in offering residual waste disposal supporting wider recycling services. The team is focused on managing the site to minimise impacts to community around the site and we will continue to do so.”

Ian Williams, a professor in applied environmental science at the University of Southampton, has spent decades researching landfills and says he has “no doubt” they can cause serious health problems for people living nearby. “If you’re constantly being subjected to an unpleasant odour, you are never going to get it out of your head, you then suffer from itchy eyes, headaches, you get stressed, you’re not sleeping, you worry about your children…of course it’s going to have an impact,” he said. Professor Williams said governments have not done enough to reduce the country’s reliance on landfills over recent decades, and the public are now paying the price.

“There’s no real reason for us to have so many landfills – Germany has around 150. Why do we need four times as many landfills as Germany?” he added. “We didnt make the right changes and this is the consequence.

There should be a proper investigation by the EA into the health and social impact of landfills. “The EA is underfunded, totally demoralised, overworked, they’re getting the blame for things that aren’t their fault. We need a reset but it will need funding.”

Ahead of the general election, Labour said it would aim for a “zero waste” economy by 2050. An Environment Agency spokesperson said the regulator believes the “overwhelming majority” of the landfill sites across England are operated by “responsible businesses with a good compliance record who take their responsibilities seriously”. “Landfill sites must be operated without unacceptable risk of pollution to the environment or harm to human health,” they added.

“We take tough action to ensure that the operators comply – including regular inspections, enforcement notices, prosecution and closing down illegal sites.

“We want to be transparent so all monitoring data submitted to us by landfill operators is publicly available.”

References

^ Environment Agency (inews.co.uk)
^ pollution (inews.co.uk)
^ landfill (inews.co.uk)
^ waste (inews.co.uk)
^ recycled (inews.co.uk)
^ wide range of health problems (inews.co.uk)
^ sewage scandal (inews.co.uk)
^ Fleetwood, Lancashire (inews.co.uk)
^ Andy Burnham (inews.co.uk)