🔗 Share this article

Two men have been taken into custody as part of an investigation into the tipping of many thousands of tons of waste in a field in Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was detained in Slough, Berkshire in association with the huge mound of waste deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions come after a previous report which uncovered the operation of in excess of 500 illegal sites throughout England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the environmental body stated that the arrests were for environment-related and money laundering violations and represented a "vital step" in active inquiries. Both men have been released on pre-trial release.

Magnitude of the Situation

The dump in near Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is thought to contain approximately 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of waste is made up of what appears to be processed household rubbish, fragmented plastic items, expanded polystyrene, automobile tires and other everyday articles.

It represents just a single of 517 unauthorized tips throughout England, at a minimum of 11 of which are estimated to hold more than 20,000 metric tons of garbage. They encompass a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual figure of such larger sites is probably to be greater, as the environment authority has previously stated it does not hold data on volume for every illegal dump.

A large proportion of sites are in countryside areas, typically out of sight, and on land that is intended to be arable land.

Organized Enterprise

Law enforcement state numerous are operated by organised crime gangs, who are generating profit by asking for far less than legitimate operators to accept and dispose of waste.

Firms have to incur site fees to use licensed disposal sites, depending on the quantity and nature of material they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also charged at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Anger

Initial efforts to remove the Kidlington area dump began recently due to worries over the potential of combustion and the impact that would have on the nearby highway.

A private waste removal contractor has been awarded the job to deal with the location over the following 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance manager for the national environmental crime unit said that the body would be looking to recover the remediation funds under confiscation legislation from any individual ultimately convicted at the conclusion of its current investigation.

She added that the recent arrests would help "move the investigation forward" and enable the agency to "investigate more lines of inquiry to ascertain precisely what happened and who was involved".

"The unlawful dump at Kidlington was an atrocious and calculated attack on our ecology and the authorities share the community's outrage at this egregious act," she remarked.

A cabinet representative praised the detentions, stating: "This unlawful tipping of rubbish at Kidlington is disgraceful and has resulted in considerable detriment to the ecology and anguish to the surrounding population.

"Our government is pledged to stamping out this kind of illegal activity across the country, by boosting resources to combat environmental crime, hiring more personnel and implementing stricter measures and penalties for those who break the law."

The detentions were executed on Thursday by agents from a regional crime squad and come after an earlier arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area area in the autumn. He was released subject to additional investigations.