‘Putrid’ fly tip containing 30,000 tonnes of rubbish found off M57 – who’s behind it?

A Merseyside council is searching for the people behind what is thought to be one of the largest flytips in British history.

A site just off the M57 in Kirkby, Merseyside, is now filled to the brim with 30,000 tonnes of rubbish dumped there illegally.

Police have yet to find who’s behind the crime, but passersby noticed diggers working on the site without permission in November, prompting concern.

The site, teeming with waste, has been shut down by the Environment Agency and has been dubbed ‘horrendous’ by local councillor Graham Morgan.

‘We are furious at the sheer contempt those responsible have shown for our residents and for the habitat on this site,’ he said, adding that those responsible need to be prosecuted.

It’s still unclear who was behind the crime, but many flytippers are linked to organised gangs, phoney ‘waste disposal’ operators and even local businesses at times.

The piles of rubbish were first noticed by a passerby in November, when a local confronted a worker who said they were working for a ‘nearby roads project’.

The ‘workers’ later disappeared, but left behind the tonnes of rubbish for locals to face.

An EA spokesperson said: ‘We took action with Knowsley Council and Merseyside Police to shut down access to this illegal waste dump and are hunting down those involved.

‘The public should be assured that we will use all our powers to prosecute the criminals responsible.’

The UK is littered with hundreds of illegal dumps, including ‘super sites’ teeming with waste.

One site in Northwich, Cheshire, which contains around 280,000 tonnes, is so full that the soil has been contaminated by construction and demolition waste.

Another site in Burnley, Lancashire, and a site in Camborne, Cornwall, both hold 50,000 tonnes of predominantly construction and demolition waste.

A dump in Sittingbourne, Kent, contains approximately 36,000 tonnes of commercial and construction waste.

An estimated 800,000 tyres were deposited at an illegal tip in Fakenham, Norfolk.

The BBC reported that more than 700 illegal dumps were shut down in 2024/25, with most often hidden in countryside locations on what should be agricultural land.

Waste crime is becoming an increasingly significant problem in the UK, with high-profile illegal dump sites provoking widespread outrage in recent years.

Last November, a pile of waste measuring more than 500ft long threatened an environmental catastrophe.

The massive heap of hazardous rubbish is around 20ft deep, and was illegally dumped in a field next to the A34 and River Cherwell near Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

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