Industry stakeholders from across the waste and environmental services sector will appear before peers to give their perspectives on the scale, impacts and regulation of waste crime.
The session will take place at 10am in committee room 4 of the Palace of Westminster and can be followed live or afterwards on Parliament TV.
The inquiry will focus on serious and organised forms of waste crime, such as illegal waste sites and unlawful dumping, which can pose significant environmental and economic risks.
It aims to examine the prevalence of such activity, the ways in which criminals exploit the sector, and the adequacy of current monitoring, enforcement and penalties.
Industry voices
Giving evidence to the committee will be:
- Sam Corp, Head of Regulation at the Environmental Services Association (ESA)
- Donald Macphail, Chief Operating Officer for Treatment and Hazardous Waste, UK, at Veolia
- Dan Cooke, Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)
Peers are expected to question witnesses on a range of issues, including the evolution of waste crime, the scale of its environmental and economic impacts, and the sufficiency of penalties for offenders.
They will also explore how well public bodies collaborate to tackle waste crime and consider the effectiveness of forthcoming Government measures in this area.
The inquiry is expected to provide recommendations on how enforcement and regulatory regimes might be strengthened to address waste crime more effectively.
27% of waste crime is reported
The EA’s National Waste Crime Survey, released in July 2025, revealed that only 27% of all waste crime is currently reported.
The survey also found that an estimated 35% of waste crime is committed by organised crime groups, attracted by financial gains.
The EA said that networks of organised criminal groups operating across the country are targeting privately owned property and land, particularly in rural locations, to dump rubbish collected through illegal means.
In 2023/24, fly tipping incidents rose to 1.15 million, up from 1.08 million in the previous year.
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