The family was devastated to learn that they are legally obliged to pay the clear-up costs and could face prosecution if they fail to do so.
They are backing the NFU’s calls for a change in the law to ensure fly-tipping victims are not responsible for paying the costs of clearing up the rubbish and for a major shake-up of how the crime is dealt with.
Alex Sell, a fifth-generation livestock and arable farmer, said: “Seeing all that rubbish felt like a huge punch in the gut – it’s devastating.
Victims left with huge clear-up costs
“I think it’s a completely unfair situation. Organised criminal gangs are wreaking havoc on the countryside, causing great damage to the environment, and getting away with it, while the victims are left with huge clear-up costs.”
The mountains of rubbish were dumped on a 16-acre field off Arterial Road, North Stifford near Grays, on the outskirts of east London.
The rubbish appears to have been ground down and processed at a waste treatment centre in preparation for being sent to landfill.
Mr Sell believes a criminal gang has been paid to fly-tip the rubbish as a means of avoiding landfill tax.
The National Audit Office has reported that increases in landfill tax have inadvertently incentivised criminal gangs by increasing the amount of money that can be made from waste crime.
Mr Sell, whose family has been farming in Essex since 1894, runs a mixed beef, sheep and arable farm near Basildon, 12 miles away from the field in North Stifford, with his wife Gemma, brother Ben and uncle Jonathan.
The fly-tip happened at some point between 20 August and 3 September.
The rented field is used to grow maize to feed the family’s farm animals and is not regularly worked on at this time of year.
Padlock cut by criminals
The criminals cut the padlock to the gate and replaced it with a new padlock, to hide the break-in.
Mr Sell said: “The quotes I’ve been getting to clear the rubbish are in the region of £350,000. I believe our insurance will cover that, but we will be paying it off in premiums for the next 20 years.
“On top of that, 200 tonnes of maize silage we grew to feed our animals has potentially been ruined, so there is a big increase in costs for animal feed and there will be a major impact on what we can grow on here next year.
“Dealing with it all has been time-consuming and stressful during what has already been a very challenging year for farming.
“We are just trying to make a living, producing food for people. We are renting much of our land, and every acre must pay for itself.”
The NFU urges authorities to work better together to secure more arrests and convictions and for stronger penalties that reflect the impact of fly-tipping.
A simple reporting mechanism needs to be developed so that farmers and land managers only have to report a fly-tipping incident once. Currently victims may have to report incidents to multiple authorities, which is time consuming, confusing and frustrating.
Fly-tipping 'out of control'
Mr Sell said: “People think of fly-tipping as a fridge dumped in a layby, but fly-tipping is happening at a huge scale now and on a regular basis here in Essex and across the country, with organised criminal gangs taking advantage of a system that is not equipped to deal with it.
"When I called the police, they referred me to the Environment Agency, who then referred me back to the police. We’ve also had someone from the district council out here.
“These authorities are doing what they can, but their hands are tied.
“The gangs responsible for these huge fly-tips must be treated like drug gangs. They are causing so much damage to the environment, the countryside, our livelihoods and our ability to produce food for the nation, and they are making fortunes doing it.”
NFU Vice-president Robyn Munt said: “This case in Essex is another awful example of the severe impact of fly-tipping. This is not an isolated incident. Fly-tipping is completely out of control.
“Fly-tipping must be the only crime where the victims become criminals if they do not put right the crime that has been done to them and pay the huge fees to clear up the mess.
“Waste crime is costing the farming industry tens of millions of pounds in clear up costs every year, damaging the environment, harming wildlife, scarring the countryside and preventing farmers from producing food.
“The people responsible for this are often given fines which amount to less than the costs of hiring a skip. This is a travesty of justice.
“This situation cannot go on and the NFU will continue to push for change at all levels of government.”