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Two men have been detained as a component of an probe into the tipping of many thousands of tons of refuse in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Authorities stated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in relation with the enormous mound of rubbish deposited near Kidlington.

These apprehensions come after a previous report which exposed the existence of more than 500 unlawful tips throughout England, including at minimum 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 tonnes.

A representative for the environmental body commented that the apprehensions were for ecological and financial crimes and constituted a "vital step" in continuing probes. Both men have been set free on pre-trial release.

Scale of the Problem

The illegal site in Kidlington, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34, is thought to house about 21,000 tonnes of waste in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high.

This mound of rubbish is consists of what appears to be sorted residential rubbish, fragmented plastic items, Styrofoam, automobile tires and various domestic articles.

It represents just one of 517 unauthorized tips throughout England, at least 11 of which contain over 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. These include a 280,000-tonne area in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The total number of such major dumps is probably to be higher, as the environment agency has earlier indicated it does not possess information on weight for each unauthorized tip.

The majority sites are in rural settings, often concealed, and on land that is intended to be arable land.

Organized Operations

Law enforcement report many are managed by criminal organizations, who are generating money by demanding significantly less than licensed firms to take and bury garbage.

Companies have to incur site fees to use lawful landfill sites, depending on the amount and category of refuse they are trying to get rid of, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Anger

Initial work to clear the Kidlington location began recently due to concerns over the potential of combustion and the effect that would have on the close-by major road.

A commercial clean-up firm has been given the job to handle the area over the next 12 months period at a expense of £9.6m.

An compliance official for the government regulatory team stated that the agency would be aiming to recover the remediation costs under asset recovery acts from anyone successfully found guilty at the end of its active inquiry.

She added that these arrests would help "push the inquiry forward" and enable authorities to "pursue more lines of inquiry to determine exactly what transpired and who was implicated".

"This illegal tip at Kidlington was an shocking and intentional affront on our environment and we understand the local anger at this terrible offence," she stated.

A government representative praised the actions, stating: "The unauthorized deposit of waste at this location is utterly appalling and has caused considerable damage to the ecology and anguish to the local residents.

"The authorities is dedicated to stamping out this category of illegal activity in the country, by augmenting funds to tackle illegal dumping, recruiting more staff and implementing stricter checks and penalties for those who break the law."

The detentions were made on the specified day by personnel from a dedicated organised crime team and follow an previous arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in November. He was set free pending further inquiries.