Environment Secretary Liz Truss vowed to ‘crack down on waste cowboys’, while Resources Minister Rory Stewart has called for more consistency in collections.

Officers from the Environment Agency took part in an operation in Lincolnshire on Wednesday in an attempt to identify illegal waste traders.

A skip hire operator from Anglesey has been sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months, along with a £400,000 confiscation order for the unlawful operation of a waste transfer station.

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Mark H Durkan has called for a permanent task force to prompt a ‘significant gear change’ in tackling environmental crime.

Kent-based Walsh Skip Hire has been made to pay £17,120 after being found guilty of exceeding the limits of its site's environmental permit.

Two waste firms in Kent have been fined £44,294 for illegally dumping refuse on the flood plain near the River Medway.

An ‘urgent response’ is needed to the 10 billion tonnes of urban waste that is produced globally each year, says the United Nations Environment Programme.

A new report from the International Solid Waste Association says that open dumpsites are harming the lives of tens of millions in the developing world.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is to begin a consultation process looking at improvements to Scotland’s compliance assessment scheme for environmental permits.

The Environment Agency has received funding worth around £470,000 from the European Union to go towards tackling environmental crime.