The clean-up of one of England’s largest illegal waste sites has been completed at a cost of £6m to taxpayers, prompting renewed calls for waste criminals to cover the cost of clearing the damage they cause.

Around 22,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial rubbish were illegally dumped at the Kidlington site in Oxfordshire during 2025. The site, located between the River Cherwell and the A34, is one of nearly 30 major illegal waste locations described as “supersites”.

The government has said it intends to recover the cost of clearing Kidlington and seven other sites from those responsible for the illegal dumping.

As part of a wider crackdown on waste crime, authorities plan to make greater use of measures that allow money and assets belonging to convicted criminals to be confiscated and used to cover clean-up costs.

However, figures obtained by the BBC indicate that the Environment Agency has recovered just over £7m from waste criminals through Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation orders during the past five years.

The figure is relatively small compared with the wider economic impact of illegal waste activity. The Environment Agency estimates that waste crime costs the economy around £1bn every year.

The £6m Kidlington clean-up highlights the financial burden illegal dumping can place on taxpayers and the challenges authorities face in recovering money from those responsible.