In an open letter sent to Creagh, ESA Executive Director Jacob Hayler stressed that while the association agrees the regulatory system is failing, the Secretary of State’s wording “unfairly creates the impression that the waste industry itself is to blame” for escalating criminality in the sector.
Hayler added that the association agrees that the regulatory system is the “failing system” and hoped that Creagh would “clarify” her statement.
In addition, the letter urged the government to strength enforcement against waste crime, warning that current “paltry” penalties are leading to offenders treating them as “routine costs of business”.
It called for reform of the waste carriers, brokers and dealers permitting system, alongside the rapid introduction of digital waste tracking to close loopholes exploited by criminal operators.
The intervention followed a parliamentary exchange about the dumping of “hundreds of tonnes” of waste between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington.
The Environment Agency has since secured a court order, issued on 23 October 2025, to close the site to all public access and prevent further tipping.
‘End to end’ system failure
Responding to a question from Calum Miller MP on 13 November 2025, Creagh told MPs: “We inherited a whole system failure in the waste industry, from end to end with failures at every level.
“That is why there has been an epidemic of illegal fly-tipping. It is now the work of serious and organised crime.
“We have a waste crime unit that has undertaken in the last financial year 21 money laundering investigations, six account-freezing orders and 13 confiscation orders.
“However, I am aware of this incident and I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss it. I understand that a restriction order was served to prevent further access and tipping at the site.”
ESA full letter
In response to Creagh’s statement, the ESA issued an open letter:
“I write on behalf of members of the ESA regarding your response to a parliamentary question raised by Calum Miller MP on 13 November 2025 about a large-scale fly-tipping incident near Kidlington, Oxford.
“This serious incident is yet another shocking example of the ability of organised career criminals to infiltrate the recycling and waste management sector and operate with near impunity at huge expense to the environment; local communities; land-owners and the public purse, as well as legitimate waste operators and their investors.
“As is all too often the case, the stable door appears to have been shut long after the horse had bolted in this instance, since huge quantities of waste material have been allowed to accumulate over time and now pose a serious threat to the natural environment, as well as local amenity.
“In your verbal response, you stated that the Labour Government had “inherited a whole system failure in the waste industry, from end to end with failures at every level.” This comment was subsequently reported by the BBC and other publications and is, unfortunately, open to misinterpretation.
“While we hope that you meant this statement to refer only to the regulatory system governing the waste industry, which we would agree is a failing system, the statement as made unfairly creates the impression that the waste industry itself is to blame for the largely unchecked criminality currently running rife in some quarters of the sector.
‘System is being failed by weak regulation’
The letter continues: “The ESA represents many of the UK’s largest recycling and waste management companies which, together, have invested billions in the UK over the past twenty years to create the modern, effective and safe waste management infrastructure and ecosystem we have today. Together, our members employ nearly 50,000 people in the UK and provide vital frontline services to more than 17 million people across Great Britain and Northern Ireland every day. Our members stand poised to invest billions more to support Government’s net-zero and resource productivity targets over the next decade.
“However, this investment is at risk and is being actively undermined by weak regulation and enforcement, which has allowed criminality to proliferate across the sector. The ability for criminals to simply dump huge quantities of waste in a field, bypassing the costs associated with safe professional treatment or disposal solutions, allows them to significantly undercut legitimate waste operators – in turn allowing them to access more and more waste material with its associated revenues.
“The ESA and its members have been calling for significant regulatory reform; tougher enforcement and harsher penalties for waste criminals for well over a decade now, but the Environment Agency remains chronically under-resourced and unfocussed in its approach to tackling serious and organised criminality in the sector. Meanwhile, in instances where perpetrators are successfully convicted, paltry penalties are simply seen as a “cost of business” by persistent criminals. Furthermore, meaningful reform of the waste carriers, brokers and dealers permitting regime is now long overdue, as is the digital waste tracking needed to support it. Many of these concerns were reflected by the cross-party House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee in its recent inquiry into waste crime, which made a number of recommendations that the ESA supports.
“We hope that you will be in a position to clarify your statement and make a clear distinction in future between the vital, hard-working and diligent legitimate recycling and waste sector in the UK, and the criminal elements currently infiltrating and undermining it. The ESA remains at the disposal of Government and its regulatory bodies to help tackle the current situation in any way we can, but we now need to see meaningful action.”
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