The statement from the public body this week (12 September) was published in its corporate scorecard for the third quarter of 2022/23, covering 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.
In Q3, the number of active high risk illegal waste sites increased by 10 from the previous three months, giving a total of 190, against a target of 185.
While this reverses a trend of eight consecutive quarters of meeting the target, the Agency said it is likely that the data is “starting to catch up with the situation on the ground”.
The report warned that the “continued concentration on risk based field work, coupled with recruitment of additional officers, has resulted in an increase in the number of substantiated high risk illegal waste sites.
However there remains a significant backlog of reports of illegal waste sites that have yet to be substantiated, so the real number of illegal waste sites is likely to be even higher than recorded here.”
The reported numbers are still likely to be an underestimate
- Environment Agency
Staff
The Agency has been public in calling for more resources to tackle environmental non-compliance. In 2020, then chair Emma Howard Boyd went public in her calls for more central government funding (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, the Agency reported that in the battle against waste crime, “a considerable amount of knowledge and experience has been lost in the turnover of staff”.
It added that the “relative inexperience of new staff combined with the increasing complexity of cases has resulted in a reduction in the number of sites being stopped.
“These figures should continue to be treated with caution as the ongoing resource pressures and backlog of reported sites means that the reported numbers are still likely to be an underestimate.”
Subscribe for free