Coastal historic landfills
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-12)

Research examined the current and future pollution risk of coastal historic landfills to protect the surrounding environment.

Coastal Historic Landfills

Kate Spencer (https://www.qmul.ac.uk/geog/staff/spencerk.html)1, James Brand2, Shudan Xue (https://www.qmul.ac.uk/geog/staff/shudanx.html)1, Stuart Grieve (https://swdg.io/research/)1 and Francis O’Shea (https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/f.t.oshea) 3

1 School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom

2 Environment Agency, United Kingdom

3 Geography, King’s College London, United Kingdom

The research, led by a team from the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) between 2013 and 2024, examined the current and future pollution risk of coastal historic landfills (CHL). CHL are landfills which pre-date modern environmental regulation and waste management technologies. There are over 1,000 historic landfills on the coast at increasing risk of being impacted by erosion and sea level rise. The findings from the research helped to inform policy and practice, raised awareness and informed decision-making at various levels.

The project led to 3 main outputs. The first was a national dataset which defined over 1,200 CHL sites at risk of tidal flooding and erosion, and 30% of coastal environmentally sensitive areas at risk (Brand et al., 2018). The second output was ecological impact evidence which concluded that the release of soluble and solid wastes (including microplastics which are small particles less than 5 mm in diameter) into the marine environment could significantly harm ecological health (Brand and Spencer, 2019; 2020). The third output was a risk screening tool that can be used by Coastal Protection Authorities to prioritise sites for remediation and management in England (Brand and Spencer, 2018).

Impact

The research findings facilitated an increased understanding and awareness of the potential risks associated with historic coastal landfills for coastal local authorities, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the Environment Agency. Prof Spencer advises Defra’s work to develop a national methodology to prioritise coastal landfills. The proposed risk screening assessment informed the work of the East Solent Coastal Partnership (Stratton) and Defra. This engagement raised regulator and policy-maker awareness.

“The new knowledge and evidence provided has raised the profile of the challenge to the most senior levels in the Environment Agency and Defra” (Johnson, 2020).

The research also directly informed local shoreline management practices in Essex, South Suffolk, and the Thames Estuary. In these locations, policy decisions for Managed Realignment were no longer viable due to the quantified risk of large-scale pollutant release to the marine environment.

The research team widely reported the findings of the research. This included providing evidence for the UN’s report to the UK Government on toxic waste (UNHRC, 2017), the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST, 2023) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Coastal Communities (2024).

The research team also raised public awareness through media coverage including both award-winning documentary and news coverage reaching a combined 9 million viewers. The engagement and dissemination efforts highlighted the importance of addressing the interlinked climate change and pollution risks associated with coastal historic landfills and helped raise public awareness.

Beyond the UK, both Belgium and the Netherlands have also carried out national coastal landfill assessments. The Public Waste Agency of Flanders in Belgium (OVAM) was inspired by QMUL’s research and “using approaches set out in Brand et al. (2018), OVAM performed a GIS-analysis on its national landfill database to estimate the number of landfills vulnerable to coastal erosion and flooding” (Public Waste Agency, Belgium). While in the Netherlands, it was noted that “[s]ince engaging with Prof Spencer’s research, [Boerekamp] have now also carried out an assessment of our national datasets on landfills to explore and quantify which are at risk” (Boerekamp, Rijkswaterstaat).

The research also provided the evidence to trial landfill mining, reclamation of buried waste, in Flanders. The Public Waste Agency of Flanders “identified 2 pilot landfill sites in alluvial areas at flood risk to test the possibility of eliminating mining landfills” (Public Waste Agency, Belgium 2020). Speaking to the impact of the research findings in Flanders “[r]esearch and findings carried out by Prof Spencer’s team at QMUL on historic landfills has had a significant impact on policy and policy makers in the Flemish region (and) led to the inclusion of historic landfills in the planning process for flood risk control and amendment of our national landfill management policy” (Public Waste Agency, Belgium 2020).

Resources

Brand, J.H., Spencer, K.L., O’Shea, F.T. and Lindsay, J.E. 2018. Potential pollution risks of historic landfills on low-lying coasts and estuaries. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIRES): Water, DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1264.

Brand, J.H. and Spencer, K.L. (2019). Potential contamination of the coastal zone by eroding historic landfills. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 146: 282-291.

Brand, J.H. and Spencer, K.L. (2018). Risk screening assessment for ranking historic coastal landfills by pollution risk. Anthropocene Coasts, 2018, 1(1): 44-61.

Brand, J.H., Spencer, K.L., 2020. Will flooding or erosion of historic landfills result in a significant release of soluble contaminants to the coastal zone? Science of The Total Environment 724, 138150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.xx-xxxx-xxxx

Johnson, M (personal testimonial), 2020. Area Coastal Manager, Environment Agency, East Anglia.

Collaborators
- Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA)
- University of Southampton
- Southend Borough council
- Essex County Council
- Arcadis
Research period
- 2013 to 2017
Impact period
- 2015 to present
Impact country
- UK
- Belgium
- Netherlands
Contributing towards areas of research interest
- 8 - Integrated outcomes