Work to remove 21,000 tonnes of waste from an illegal waste site in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, has now begun.
The dump is made up of commercial and household waste, including tyres, shredded plastic, and household rubbish.
Acumen Waste Services Ltd has been contracted to remove the waste, which is set to cost £9 million and last around six months.
The operation was previously delayed by two months after heavy rainfall meant heavy vehicles were unable to operate on the site. Around 15 to 30 lorry loads of waste will be cleared from the site per day.
An organised criminal gang is believed to have dumped the waste across 8,000 square metres of land near the A34 in Kidlington – an area larger than the pitch at Wembley Stadium. Four people have been arrested as part of the investigation into the illegal waste dump.
Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Dan Cooke, told the BBC that criminals could have made well over £500,000 from dumping the waste.
Commenting on the clean-up, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: “The illegal waste dump in Kidlington is disgraceful. I have seen the immense scale of the site, which I am proud to say the government is now clearing up.”
“Our wider Waste Crime Action Plan is cracking down on waste criminals by giving the Environment Agency new police style-powers and using new technology, like specialised drones, to prevent this criminality in the future.”
In December last year, Defra announced it would take the ‘exceptional decision’ to clear the Kidlington waste dump as the scale of the fire risk set the site apart from other illegal waste sites in England and presented an ‘overriding public imperative’.
As part of its new waste crime action plan, the government promised to fund the clean-up of some of the ‘most egregious illegal waste sites’ in the country, including a dump on land owned by the King’s estate.
Environment Agency Chief Executive Phillip Duffy told a House of Lords committee that the government has committed £65m towards the clearance of illegal waste sites across the country.
