Massive-scale fly-tipping is at risk of "running out of control", according to the professional body in charge of waste management in the UK.

The latest ENV24 statistics released by DEFRA on Wednesday (25 February) show there were 52,000 fly-tipping incidents larger than a "tipper lorry" load recorded by councils in England during the last financial year (2024-25).

That is up from just 31,000 in the year before the pandemic.

However, the number of reported fly-tipping incidents in Kingston (published in February 2026) has decreased from 1,008 – 957 since February last year.

The data found that the number of fly-tipping investigations in Kingston has remained the same as in 2025, being 885.

The same goes for Warning Letter Actions (six), Statutory Notice Actions (zero), and Littering Fixed Penalty Notices in conjunction with fly-tipping (zero).

However, the number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued specifically for fly-tipping in Kingston has increased from three to five since last year.

The total number Fixed Penalty Notice Actions has also increased from three to six.

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Defra has previously said the national rise is partly being driven by better reporting and recording of incidents.

But campaigners have repeatedly linked the rise in large-scale tipping to organised crime.

Across the country, fake companies are appearing to offer legitimate commercial waste clearance services before dumping that waste in fields, farm sheds, even local parks with seeming impunity-often wrapping the waste in sheeting to look like hay bales to a passer-by.

The150m mound of waste found next to the A43 in Oxfordshire is believed to be one of hundreds of illegal tips that were 'active' during the last financial year.

Last week a prolific criminal tipper was ordered to pay more than £1.2m in compensation following a lengthy Environment Agency investigation.

However, very few are ever brought to justice.

Meanwhile, punishment remains low when it comes to the bigger offences: only 663 fines more than £1,000have been issued since 2019.

A spokesperson for The Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM) said: "Waste crime is at risk of running out of control across the UK. It is evident that waste crime at all levels continues to cause misery and anxiety for local communities and causes real damage to local environments and local economies.

"The recent high profile illegal dumping incidents at sites such as Kidlington in Oxfordshire and Bickershaw in Wigan has quite rightly propelled the issue of 'industrial scale' waste crime to the top of government, public, and national media awareness.

"However, it is also clear that such sites are just the tip of a very large iceberg. And despite the high profile the issue has received in recent months, new sites continue to appear–Ancaster, Epping Forest, Kilmarnock, Lugar, Treorchy to name just a few.

"Collectively we should all be clear on where the blame lies for such incidents, which is clearly on the perpetrators. These are crooks and cowboy operators, often organised criminal gangs, deliberately profiting from other's misery, from polluting our environment and exploiting loopholes in the system.

"They must be held to account wherever possible and to pay the price for their actions–including full clean-up costs where they can be recovered.

"Landowners and regulators are often stuck between a rock and a hard place, given the obvious complexity of and gaps in the current legal framework, available powers, responsibilities, and liabilities, along with the limitations in targeted resources and capacity of the regulators."