Recommendation 18

The Environment Agency regulates a range of industrial sectors and various parts of the waste management system, including landfill sites, mining, energy from waste, producer packaging and international waste shipments.44 It issues permits to, and inspects, waste sites. In 2024–25 it inspected 6,618 permitted waste sites.45 The Environment Agency told us that last year 40,000 of the 100,000 phone calls it received were complaints about the smell or disruption caused by permitted waste sites.46 It also told us that 460 waste sites across the UK had been in the worst performing category for more than one year, indicating these sites are risking damage to the environment, people or places. It explained that these worst performing sites were at risk of having their permit suspended or revoked. The Environment Agency told us it had revoked some permits recently, including the permit for the landfill site at Walley’s Quarry in Staffordshire, which had caused noise and disruption to the local area for many years.47