Farmers are being warned to tighten security this winter as organised waste gangs continue to dump lorry loads of illegal rubbish on rural land, leaving landowners with clean-up bills that can exceed £6,000 per incident.
The Environment Agency says criminals are taking advantage of darker evenings to force their way past locked gates and tip shredded waste on carefully chosen sites, including farm tracks, fields, lanes, industrial yards, parkland and isolated laybys.
The offenders avoid legitimate disposal costs, while the financial and environmental burden falls squarely on farmers and rural businesses.
According to NFU Mutual’s latest rural crime report, rural crime cost the UK £44.1 million in 2024, adding significant strain to already hard-pressed farming communities.
To combat the escalation, the Environment Agency is working alongside local police, the NFU, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and local authorities. The agencies say intelligence-sharing and fast reporting are essential, but farmers’ vigilance remains the first line of defence.
Peter Lennard, an environment officer at the Environment Agency, said the public should be especially alert in winter months. “We need farmers and landowners to stay vigilant this winter, particularly with darker evenings,” he said.
He urged regular land checks, the identification of vulnerable access points and the installation of “roadblocks and CCTV cameras where possible”.
Waste crime, he added, “pollutes the environment, undercuts legitimate business, and significantly affects farmers and rural communities.”
Peter Ewin, rural advisor for CLA East, called illegal dumping “a blight on our countryside and a burden on rural businesses”. He encouraged landowners to secure vulnerable locations ahead of winter, to report incidents quickly and to be aware of their legal responsibilities.
From a farming perspective, the issue is becoming both costly and disruptive. George Gittus, NFU regional board vice-chair for the East of England and a farmer near Bury St Edmunds, said waste dumping “is a huge issue across the region, damaging the environment and seriously disrupting farmers’ work”.
He noted that industrial-scale incidents “can cost individual farmers tens of thousands of pounds in clear-up costs”.
The Environment Agency is asking farmers and rural residents to report any suspicious signs — including unexpected HGV movements, activity on land at unusual hours, or odd smells and increased pests.
Anyone with information about illegal waste activity is urged to contact the agency hotline on 0800 807060, so offenders can be stopped before more farmland is turned into an illegal dumping ground.
