Dumped! The Consequences of Illegal Waste Dumping in the EU

"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more like an immense pile of filth." — Pope Francis (2013-25) in his 2015 book "Laudato si'", a second encyclical subtitled "On Care for Our Common Home"

A waste crisis is burying the European Union (EU) under piles of decaying rubbish. As of 2022, the EU generates more than 2.2 million tonnes of waste annually, millions of which, from everyday municipal solid waste to toxic chemicals, are illegally dumped across the supranational organisation of 27 countries.

Illegal dumping raises serious concerns about waste management systems and unsustainable human consumption patterns. It is an environmental crime —carried out on both small and large scales— with immediate and long-term repercussions for humans, nature, and ecosystems, “recognising the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and economic factors” (Rabbi, 2024).

While EU Member States share common environmental and waste legislation as part of the transition to a sustainable circular economy, this has not prevented environmental crime from becoming the third-largest criminal activity in Europe.

This article will discuss illegal waste dumping in the EU and its significant implications for the environment and the population’s health.

Figure 1: Fly tipping in the village of Tatsfield, Surrey, England (Burchell, 2018).

Waste and Illegal Dumping

Illegal dumping, also known as “fly-tipping” in Britain (Dixon, et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2025), refers to the unauthorised disposal of commercial, household, and industrial waste —solid and liquid— in public, urban, and green spaces unsuitable for waste management (Lu, 2019; Smith, 2025). It is an environmental crime, ranging from small-scale opportunism in urban areas to planned and coordinated organised crime groups (D’Amato et al., 2015; Lu et al., 2025), which can seriously harm humans, wildlife, and natural resources (Malinowski et al., 2015; Hohl et al., 2023). It also has long-term negative effects on the land (water and soil contamination and land degradation), the economy (waste removal costs), and society (impacting health and well-being) (Vaverková et al., 2019; Du et al., 2023; Szulc et al., 2023).

The world generates more than 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) every year (United Nations Environment Programme, 2024), waste collected locally from households, offices, and commercial and industrial properties (Stone, 1978; Iqbal et al., 2020). Rapid urbanisation —with the global urban population projected to increase by up to 68% by 2050, when the world’s population is expected to reach between 9 and 9.8 billion— has significantly increased the volume and types of MSW and specialised waste from human activities, consumption, and lifestyles. The world’s natural resources are becoming scarce and more expensive. There is an urgency to transform our unsustainable “throwaway society” of disposable products, namely single-use plastic items, and excessive consumption, which are decimating the environment and harming human health (McCollough, 2012; Clark & Alford, 2019).

Figure 2: Municipal waste generated in the EU in 2013 and 2023. In 2023, the amount of municipal waste generated per person in the EU amounted to 511 kg, 4 kg less than in 2022 (515 kg) and 23 kg less than in 2021 (534 kg) (eurostat, 2025).

As the world’s waste mountains increase in scale and toxicity, it is estimated that up to 100 million tonnes of rubbish are illegally dumped globally (Ejaz et al, 2010 & Šedová, 2016, quoted in Awino & Apitz, 2024, p. 10). This is exacerbated by ineffective or poor waste management infrastructures to recover, remove, and dispose of rubbish (Ichinose & Yamamoto, 2011; D’Amato et al., 2018, quoted in Santos et al., 2019). In the EU, for example, the “proliferation” of illicitly trafficked waste (Quesada-Ruiz et al., 2019) has been attributed to the lucrative transboundary trade in illegal waste (avoiding taxation), a waste management system that depends on exports, and inadequate collection and recycling systems (Weghmann, 2023; Watkins, 2015).

Consumption and wealth inequalities across the supranational union can be attributed to the disparities in waste generation between member countries (Neligan, 2016; Minelgaitė & Liobikienė, 2019). As of 2022, the EU generates more than 2.2 million tonnes of waste annually, of which 27% is MSW (EU Monitor, 2023; European Environment Agency, 2022). Millions of tonnes are illegally dumped, with the largest illegal waste dumps found in Albania, Slovakia, and Romania (Szulc et al., 2023), where landfilling is still the prevalent waste management method (Mihai & Ichim, 2013, p. 201; Alcani et al., 2023; Šimková et al., 2024). Although initiatives using AI technology to monitor and prosecute have been implemented to “intelligently recognize illegal behaviors related to waste management […] while also improving the overall efficiency of waste management supervision” (Fang et al., 2023), the covert nature of the act makes it difficult to detect and regulate (Du et al., 2023) since it occurs discreetly in isolated locations or on derelict sites. In Romania, for example, illegal sites of discarded waste are increasingly found in rural locations, commonly forests, where “local authorities have abandoned sanitation services for financial reasons” (Lamasanu & Mihai, 2011) and there is poor law enforcement (Mihai et al., 2024). Illegally dumped MSW can include everyday recyclable and non-recyclable waste such as cardboard, food packaging, glass, paper, textiles, and bulky items such as mattresses and furniture (Salem et al., 2023; Karreman, 2024). Other examples of illegally dumped materials, but not considered MSW, include hazardous electronic (E-waste), construction, medical, and toxic waste, which can take decades to centuries to decompose.

Waste generation closely follows economic growth patterns (European Environment Agency, 2024; Akther et al., 2025); the range of MSW and other discarded materials reflects social and economic trends, such as incomes, population growth, and industrial output (Beede & Bloom, 1995; Sasana et al., 2022). The growing waste in the EU, albeit slower since the COVID-19 pandemic (European Environment Agency, 2024), highlights the need for better waste and sustainability education and research, a cost-effective waste system, and investment in transportation and technology for disposal and recycling to become a sustainable circular economy (Hollins et al., 2017; D’Adamo et al., 2024).

Figure 3: Greenpeace examining barrels of illegally exported German toxic waste dumped in the Romanian district of Sibiu in 1992 (Greenpeace & Vielmo, 1992).

The Consequences of Illegal Waste

Environmental crime is the third-largest criminal activity in Europe (Mäkelä et al., 2023), growing in scale and scope, “endangering not only habitats and populations of wildlife but entire ecosystems, living environments and financial systems” (Eurojust, 2021, p.3). EU transboundary waste shipments are regulated by Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006, the Waste Shipment Regulation, which is based on the Basel Convention, signed in 1989, for the safe cross-border transportation of hazardous wastes (Healy, 2021). Illegal waste dumping and trafficking blight the environment and disrupt social and economic life in several EU member states, notably France, Belgium, and Italy (Rabbi, 2024). It is a transboundary crime, which was prevalent in the North West and North East Europe during the early 2000s (Europol, 2011) and today in Central and Eastern Europe (Europol, 2022), often to evade strict regulations and environmental controls.

EU Member States share common environmental and waste legislation (Antico, 2020, p.25). Through directives, such as the Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC, and adopting sustainable attitudes to waste management (Wang et al., 2022), landfilling rates in the EU are gradually decreasing (Sauve & Acker, 2020; European Environment Agency, 2024). However, thousands of illegal waste sites remain across the union. Landfills are licensed and government-regulated locations, whereas unlawful dumping sites are unregulated, with the waste exposed and unprotected. The discarded waste releases harmful microplastics (plastic fragments up to 5 mm long) and toxins into the environment as it degrades, polluting water and soil and harming wildlife. Illegal dumping sites have become ubiquitous in urban and rural areas —from residential streets to forests and woodlands (Vaverková et al., 2019; Guyot et al., 2025)— as the EU’s waste management systems show signs of struggling with growing amounts of waste. Even the damage from small-scale “localised pollution incidents” (Watkins, 2015) can be immediate and long-term to ecosystems, “transform[ing] the territory from a renewable to a non-renewable resource” (Troisi et al., 2024, p.605), and cleanup operations can be a financial burden for local authorities and taxpayers. These illegal sites also become breeding grounds for rats and flies seeking food, which could transmit deadly diseases to animals and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Illegal hazardous waste —materials possessing flammable, corrosive or toxic properties listed in the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC— is at risk of fire, such as in Poland (Kuta et al., 2023), and has been linked to elevated cancer rates and water pollution in Italy’s Campania region, where the illegal burning of waste by organised gangs has transformed the picturesque landscape into a toxic “Land of Fires” (Terra dei Fuochi) (Mazza et al., 2018; Alberti, 2022). While the trade and disposal of illegal waste is a highly lucrative venture for the EU’s organised criminal gangs, earning them billions of Euros annually, the socioeconomic implications of these dangerous acts for the population include an increase in local criminality and economic deprivation. Furthermore, social cohesion is damaged when scarce resources and funds are diverted to clear the mess and public health is threatened.

Figure 4: Waste disposal in Tagarades, near Sallonica, Greece. The Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC xxx (Truckdriver53, 2020)

Combating Illegal Dumping

The EU employs several economic measures to discourage illegal waste dumping, including landfill taxes and the post-use Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes (Imran et al., 2024) Still, D’Amato et al. (2018) believe “commitment to a more stringent waste policy tends to increase illegal disposal of waste” as perpetrators seek ways to circumvent fees and restrictions. In response to the prevalence of environmental crime, in May 2024, the EU updated its Waste Shipment Regulation ((EU) 2024/1157) and adopted the Environmental Crime Directive ((EU) 2024/1203) to strengthen cross-border and international law enforcement and increase the resources to trace, detect and monitor environmental crimes —including the illegal dumping and trade of waste.

The legal ambiguity, lack of cross-border cooperation, and limited scope for prosecution (it contained only nine offences) of the 2008 Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law, which Directive (EU) 2024/1203 replaced, hindered the efforts to combat environmental crime (Pereira, 2024). The new directive (EU) 2024/1203 expands the scope of environmental offences, which are punishable by Article 3(3) as “qualified criminal offences” and has strengthened the legal power of Member States by giving them the choice to “adopt or maintain more stringent rules in the area of criminal law” (European Union, 2024).

Ending illegal waste dumping and transportation is key to the EU’s transition to a circular economy —extending the life cycle of materials and products, thereby minimising waste— to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of this century, outlined in the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan, both approved in 2020. In the circular economy, the plethora of everyday and specialised waste is valued as a reusable resource and undergoes the principles of Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle —there may be as many as 10Rs (Zorpas, 2024)— as part of the economic model’s framework of elimination of waste, circulation and regeneration. The drive for sustainable growth in Europe is supported by earlier official orders such as the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), amended in 2018 ((EU) 2018/851) to increase recycling targets and the strengthen the commitment to a circular economy, and the Landfill Directive ((EU) 2018/850), both of which establish frameworks to improve waste management and minimise the impact of the EU members’ rubbish on the environment and public health. The former clearly defines what constitutes waste, by hierarchy, throughout the EU, and is therefore considered an asset, a “milestone” by Zhang et al. (2022), for effective and sustainable waste management (Egüez, 2021; D’Inverno et al., 2024).

Adopting a circular economy aims to tackle the EU’s waste problem, which has risen since the drop during the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (European Environment Agency, 2025). Of the billions of tonnes of waste produced annually in the EU, less than half is recycled. Too much municipal waste continues to be generated. Although some Member States, such as Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria, have exceeded the 60% municipal waste target set for 2030 as part of the circular economy (EU Monitor, 2023), poor waste management and inconsistent recycling infrastructure led the European Environment Agency to conclude in March 2025 that “the Zero Pollution Action Plan target to significantly reduce total waste generation by 2030 is unlikely to be met” (European Environment Agency, 2025).

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