Clearance work has begun at one of the largest illegal waste sites the Environment Agency has ever been called on to clear, with 21,000 tonnes of material to be removed from a field near the A34 at Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

The site, which covers 8,000 square metres - an area larger than the Wembley pitch - was shut down in October 2025 and has received no further waste since. It contains a mixture of commercial and household waste, including tyres, shredded plastic and household rubbish.

Acumen Waste Services has been appointed to carry out the removal, with between 15 and 30 lorry loads leaving the site each day over an operation expected to last six months.

The Environment Agency is not legally responsible for clearing illegally deposited waste and is not routinely funded to do so. It has stepped in at Kidlington under its exceptional circumstances powers, citing the scale of the dump and the risk of fire on a site close to a major road and the River Cherwell. Four people have so far been arrested as part of the criminal investigation into the illegal operation.

Anna Burns, Environment Agency area director for Thames, said: "This is a significant operation to remove a huge volume of illegally dumped waste. Waste crime blights communities, damages the environment and undermines legitimate businesses. We will continue to pursue those responsible through the courts while getting the site cleared as quickly and safely as possible."

The clearance begins three weeks after the government published its Waste Crime Action Plan, which sets out a zero-tolerance approach to illegal dumping and gives the Environment Agency £45 million of additional funding over the next three years. The plan includes new police-style powers for environment officers, penalty points for drivers caught fly-tipping, mandatory digital waste tracking from October 2026, and expanded use of specialised drones.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the government was "taking back control from the criminals who think they can dump waste wherever they like and walk away". Oxfordshire County Council leader Liz Leffman welcomed the start of clearance work, adding that the council had been pressing for action for more than a year.

The Kidlington operation illustrates the scale of the enforcement gap the Environment Agency has been working to close. Between July 2024 and the end of 2025 it shut down more than 1,200 illegal waste sites, but the Public Accounts Committee warned last year that the agency lacked the civil enforcement powers needed to deal with illegal operators quickly, leaving it reliant on lengthy criminal prosecutions. Restriction notices introduced under the 10 Point Plan on Waste Crime allow sites to be closed without warning. Under the new action plan, convicted offenders can be ordered to carry out up to 20 hours of unpaid clean-up work and to repay the cost of clearing the waste they dumped.

Members of the public can report suspected waste crime to the Environment Agency on 0800 807060 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.