According to the British Medical Journal, 80% of people in the UK live within 2km of landfill – that’s 53,000,000 of us. There are over 21,000 old landfills scattered across the country and 1,287 are known to contain hazardous waste. These landfills lie beneath homes, schools, shops, farmland and green spaces. Some are registered with the Environment Agency, but there are also hundreds of sites they don’t know about.
It is imperative that all these landfill sites are located, properly registered, and remediated where necessary, to prevent danger to health, life, and our precious environment.
Current UK regulations on toxic waste disposal and the danger to human life and to our environment, from both historic landfill sites and currently approved landfill sites operating the ‘dry tomb’ principle, are dangerously inadequate. Especially so, in the face of climate breakdown, with rising sea levels, increased rainfall, widespread flooding and coastal erosion.
For more information:
- Watch Paul Mobbs’ excellent film ‘Forgotten but Not Gone’ (18 mins – youtube.com)
- Listen to BBC File on 4 – ‘What Lies Beneath: The Legacy of Landfill’ (37 mins BBC Sounds)
- Independent environmental analysts the ENDS Report have mapped the locations of 1,287 old landfill sites containing hazardous waste in England and Wales – explore their interactive map here.
- Read a lively parliamentary debate about toxic materials, dumping, landfill and the lack of legislation
- Read about recent research from Queen Mary University of London that shows how the risk of water pollution from toxic landfill is growing as the climate changes.
