00:00There are more than 500 illegal waste dumps operating across England.
00:05That's the finding of a BBC investigation.
00:08And at least 11 sites contain more than 20,000 tonnes of waste.
00:13Police say many are linked to organised crime.
00:15Residents living nearby say more needs to be done to clean them up and protect the environment.
00:20Jenny Kumar reports.
00:23Dumped by the road.
00:26Tons tipped in the woods.
00:28Across the country, waste crime is on the rise, with some sites reaching industrial proportions in the countryside.
00:36So this is the site here on the right.
00:38Things have been going on for six or seven years.
00:42There have been incidents of spontaneous combustion where material is heated and caught fire.
00:48What impact has this had?
00:50It's called smell.
00:52There's been smoke.
00:53There's been noise.
00:54So those really have been the concerns that we've had as local residents.
00:59The Environment Agency says it's investigating, but locals feel furious at the lack of change.
01:05We contacted the person believed to be using this site, but he declined to comment.
01:10The BBC has learned there are more than 500 illegal waste sites operating across England.
01:15And at least 11 are massive, containing more than 20,000 tonnes of waste.
01:21For criminals, this is big business.
01:25Police!
01:26This month, West Mercia Police did this raid as part of an investigation into money laundering linked to illegal waste dumping.
01:33I'm going to have to arrest you.
01:35Two men were arrested and £100,000 in cash was seized.
01:39The police insist they're working hard to tackle the gangs involved, but some residents, living near this illegal waste site in Worcestershire, want the authorities to do more.
01:50Why is it that you wanted to do this interview anonymously?
01:53Primarily because of the fear of the intimidation.
01:56We've had several villagers who have been intimidated.
02:00They've had people park outside their house.
02:03They've been followed.
02:04But the fact that these sites are so big and there are so many, it just goes to show that the criminals know that the authorities are inadequate and they know that the penalties are inadequate.
02:14The landowner of the site in Worcestershire didn't want to speak to us when we visited, but has previously said the land is rented out.
02:24The tenant and operators of the other illegal sites targeted by West Mercia Police have failed to respond to the BBC.
02:32Here in Kidlington in Oxfordshire, the Environment Agency have announced they're clearing this site because of the fire risk.
02:39The cost? Nearly £10 million.
02:40It would have been better if the dump had been stopped happening earlier so that the cost of clear-up was a lot less and of course the environmental damage wouldn't have happened.
02:51We share the public's disgust.
02:53Every year we're shutting down hundreds of illegal waste sites, preventing waste from being illegally exported.
02:58But it's a dynamic picture for all the waste sites that we're closing.
03:01We're seeing more and more pop up around the country.
03:03The chair of the House of Lords committee that's been investigating waste crime has called for the government to take more action and said the BBC's research has exposed widespread illegal dumping across the country.
03:16A DEFRA spokesperson said they have given the Environment Agency more officers and 50% more funding and they're working to make those responsible pay.
03:25But for the communities living near these illegal dumps, there's a feeling that the authorities have a huge mountain to climb to stop this crime.
03:35Jenny Kumar, BBC News.
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