Gangs charge hundreds to take away waste on beaches and regard the action as a “legitimate business expense”, experts said.
A group of around twelve volunteers congregated on the beachfront at Minster, located on Kent’s Isle of Sheppey.
Dressed warmly in bobble hats and walking boots, they equipped themselves with blue plastic bags and litter pickers, ready to tackle the debris scattered along the shore.
Unlike typical beach litter, the volunteers were tasked with collecting builders’ rubble and fragments of household waste, remnants of illegal dumping activities that occurred between 2020 and 2023 near Eastchurch Gap.
Chris, one of the volunteers, described the disturbing variety of waste they found: “We find everything from guttering, whole pipes, and tiny rawlplugs to decorators’ caulk, bits of plastic, and cable ties.
It’s appalling,” he noted, showcasing a bin bag filled in just 20 minutes. Belinda Lamb, the coordinator of these clean-up efforts, recounted finding “shredded Christmas trees, carpet pieces, and even spongy materials from playgrounds.”
The environmental impact is significant, as Belinda highlighted, “It’s really sad. It affects marine life drastically, and consequently our own health, considering the plastic ingested by fish ends up in our food chain.”
Despite continuous efforts to clear the waste, each wave brings more debris ashore, maintaining a cycle of pollution that frustrates and disheartens the community. This pollution threatens the local area, designated as a site of scientific special interest, with long-term contamination.
Elliott Jayes, chair of the Minster on Sea Parish Council, expressed dissatisfaction with the response to the crisis: “It should have been halted immediately. The Environment Agency should have been able to issue an immediate stop notice and start prosecutions without delay.”
While the Environment Agency secured a restriction order in 2023 to shut down the illegal site, the identity of those responsible remains unknown.
Sam Corp from the Environmental Services Association highlighted the broader issue, explaining, “What we’re seeing is an increase in organised criminal activity within the waste sector, which offers high rewards for low risks.”
Investigations into the Eastchurch Gap site continue as the community grapples with the ongoing environmental and legal challenges.
