LONDON - A highly-produced three-part, narrative podcast, it follows the dirty trail of British waste from dustbins in England and exposes a British system creaking under the weight of hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste - with illegal dumping happening with impunity both at home and abroad.
Into the Wasteland is the culmination of a year-long investigation by the British environment journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, and their partners at the Polish investigative publisher Outriders, including Jakub Gornicki, Zuzanna Olejniczak and Ewa Dunal.
In the UK, there are a million incidents of 'flytipping' a year, many involving serious organised criminals. Almost a fifth of our waste - at some point - passes through criminal hands. And what isn't dealt with at home, is sent abroad for processing. In Poland, one of the countries that receives the most British waste, the team discovers allegations of waste being stored illegally, causing problems for local people. And further afield, an investigator tells us that more British waste may be being sent to Malaysia that official figures show - using the Netherlands as proxy.
ONLINE
- Podcast Overview, Mongabay, 06/12/2022;
- Into the Wasteland. Outriders dołącza do międzynarodowego projektu podcastowego, Outriders, 14/12/2022.
PODCAST
- Into the Wasteland part 1: True-crime in the U.K., Mongabay, 06/12/2022;
- Into the Wasteland part 2: Is waste crime ‘the new narcotics’ in the U.K.?, Mongabay, 13/12/2022;
- Into the Wasteland, part 3: Buried in Europe’s recycling, Mongabay, 20/12/2022;
- Into the Wasteland, Deutsche Welle, 8/12/2022;
- Buried, BBC, 16/01/2023.
need resources for your own investigative story?
Journalismfund Europe's flexible grants programmes enable journalists to produce relevant public interest stories with a European mind-set from international, national, and regional perspectives.
support independent cross-border investigative journalism
We rely on your support to continue the work that we do. Make a gift of any amount today.