Grunty Fen landfill stops accepting active waste after fires

The Environment Agency has confirmed that from July 20 2026 the Grunty Fen landfill stopped accepting all waste inputs apart from cover soils and restoration soils.

The operator, East Waste Limited, has told regulators it does not intend to reopen the site for active waste disposal, with activity now focused on importing soils to install a permanent cap, complete restoration and move into the aftercare phase.

The change means the active phase of landfill operations has ended earlier than residents expected, bringing forward relief for villages affected by the site’s impact.

Fire crews at the scene of the blaze at the Grunty Fen site on April 22 this year. (Image: Fire service)

Local people have repeatedly raised concerns about smoke, odour, litter, heavy lorry movements and the stress of living next to a landfill which has seen several serious fires.

The most recent Environment Agency compliance assessment report for Grunty Fen details two fires in April this year in Cell 11 of the landfill.

A waste load tipped on April 22 sparked a blaze which spread from Cell 11B into 11A, burning overnight until being extinguished at around 10am on April 23; a second fire broke out on April 26 and was put out within an hour.

Those incidents followed a series of previous fires in 2025, prompting the Agency to demand updated emergency management plans, fire risk assessments and an environmental action plan for Cell 11.

The latest report records permit breaches linked to management systems and air emissions and assigns compliance scores that feed into the regulator’s enforcement response.

Residents and councillors have repeatedly linked the landfill’s recurring fires to prolonged episodes of smoke, odour and anxiety in surrounding communities, and have pressed for stronger action to prevent further incidents.

Charlotte Cane, MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire County Council deputy leader Cllr Lorna Dupré and Cllr Tom Hawker‑Dawson, the county’s lead member on the Grunty Fen Landfill Site Liaison Group, have welcomed the decision to end active waste operations.

They said they have worked together over recent months to keep residents’ concerns “firmly on the agenda”, pushing the Environment Agency and other authorities for accountability and a clear route to closure.

In a joint statement, they said: “For far too long, people living near Grunty Fen have had to endure recurring fires, smoke, odour, litter, heavy lorry movements and understandable anxiety about the impact of the site on their communities.”

They described the confirmation that active waste disposal has ended, and is not expected to restart, as a “decisive turning point” and stressed that the early end to operations meant relief had come “sooner than many residents expected”.

They also paid tribute to residents who reported incidents, shared evidence and refused to let the issue drop, saying the progress “belongs first and foremost” to those communities, with elected representatives using their roles at parliamentary and county level to amplify concerns.

Although the site has closed to active waste, significant work remains to complete its restoration and manage any remaining risks.

A permanent engineered cap must be installed over the waste cells, using imported cover and restoration soils, with the completed landfill monitored for leachate, gas and other environmental impacts during the aftercare period set by the permit.

Ms Cane, Cllr Dupré and Cllr Hawker‑Dawson say they will continue to press the operator and regulators to ensure the capping and restoration are carried out properly and that any ongoing risks to nearby communities are “carefully managed”.

They have pledged to keep attending liaison group meetings and to hold agencies to their commitments until residents can “finally draw a line under this long‑running issue”.