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On Saturday 6 December, the Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) joined forces with Lancashire Police south rural taskforce and the National Crime Agency to arrest the man in relation to multiple sites of large-scale waste dumping on roadsides and lay-bys.
The vehicle suspected to have been used during the offences has been seized by the JUWC.
Officers are also investigating similar incidents in Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside. Anyone who has information is asked to get in touch with the Environment Agency.
Phil Davies, Joint Unit for Waste Crime manager, said
The results of this day of action are a great example of utilising different agencies enforcement powers to reach a successful outcome and disrupt criminal activity. Working in partnership enhances our ability to protect communities and the environment.
If you have any information regarding illegal waste dumping incidents, we encourage you to report it to the Environment Agency incident hotline to help in our fight against waste criminals.
Significant impact on communities
Sgt Darren Carr, of Lancashire Police south rural taskforce, added
Fly-tipping has a significant impact in the communities targeted, with individual landowners often having to cover the costs of disposing of the waste properly. There is also a considerable environmental impact, with many of these deposition sites being in sensitive habitats for our native wildlife, and there is often hazardous waste included.
The criminals involved in these offences are a blight on our rural communities and will travel large distances across several counties, so it is imperative that we tackle the problem by multi-agency working.
The JUWC plays a key role in this joint working, coordinating the various agencies and police forces, so that we can effectively target the offenders. Lancashire’s south rural taskforce are committed to continued multi-agency working to tackle these offenders to protect our rural communities.”
The JUWC is hosted by the Environment Agency and involves 12 partner agencies. It has led or attended 361 multi-agency days of action, which resulted in 186 associated arrests by other agencies by September 2025.
The JUWC recently expanded, doubling in size increasing its resource and skillset to shut down serious and organised waste criminals. With experienced Environment Agency enforcement and investigation officers and ex-police officers bringing a wealth of crime-fighting knowledge and tactics.
The uinit is targeting waste criminals that cause the most serious harm to the environment and communities, bringing them to justice through strong partnership intelligence and action.
Everyone can help to prevent waste crime
- Search ‘Dispose of household waste’ on gov.uk to find out what to do with rubbish that cannot be put out for kerbside collection.
- Before paying a private waste collector to take rubbish away, search the ‘Environment Agency public register of waste carriers’ to check they are a registered waste carrier. If they are not on it – they are not legal.
Anybody that has information regarding the illegal deposit of shredded waste materials, either on roads or private property that could support the JUWC investigation is encouraged to report it to the Environment Agency incident hotline 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers 0800 555 111.
Background
The JUWC hosted by the Environment Agency was formed in 2020 to tackle serious and organised crime in the waste sector.
Since then, it has grown to include 12 partners
- Environment Agency
- Natural Resources Wales
- Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
- Northern Ireland Environment Agency
- His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs
- Police
- National Fire Chiefs Council
- British Transport Police
- National Crime Agency
- Revenue Scotland
- Welsh Revenue Authority
- Environmental Services Association
- Chartered Institute for Waste Management