The “dumping” of hundreds of thousands of pieces of unused personal protective equipment near a nature reserve on the edge of the New Forest has mystified and angered local people.
But the council has revealed the giant pile of boxes containing medical aprons in Calmore, Hampshire, will be recycled into plastic bags.
Councillors said they reacted with horror after the discovery was made public at a Hampshire county council (HCC) meeting last week. It is not yet known if the items are linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the council has asked the Environment Agency to investigate.
The large-scale discovery in Calmore, near Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve, came after an investigation by New Forest District Council (NFDC) into use of land at Little Testwood Farm Caravan Park.
A report from HCC’s regulatory committee said: “It became apparent that thousands of packs of medical aprons had been dumped on the land with no obvious signs that they were being protected or stored for some future use. The concern is that they have been dumped with no intention of removal to a proper facility.
“The Environment Agency have been contacted to see if they can determine where the PPE originated and whether it was discarded by a health trust as substandard during the Covid procurement.”
Councillor Peter Latham, the committee chair, said: “It was a surprise, to put it mildly – a reaction of horror – that something like that could have happened in Hampshire and nobody knew about it.”
Councillor Neville Penman said: “I’m totally amazed at how much has been dumped. I just can’t believe it because somebody must have seen it being put there, but I’ve never seen so much waste in all my life … To be honest with you, I’m distraught over it.”
A report last year revealed that protective clothing worth £4bn bought early in the pandemic was set to be burned because it was substandard.
The Commons public accounts committee’s report said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had so much unneeded PPE that it had appointed two commercial waste firms to help it dispose of 15,000 pallets a month “via a combination of recycling and burning to generate power”.
On Monday, thousands of boxes – some labelled “apron” and “made in China” – containing more than 100 units apiece remained piled on pallets near the caravan park.
People living near the site said they did not see the pallets being unloaded and did not know how long they had been there for. But one man who lives in the caravan park said he was shocked by the amount of waste.
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The man, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s just a load of crap dumped there. Taxpayers’ money just dumped there. I’m shocked.”
A nurse who lives nearby added: “I am surprised because I work as a nurse and I know during the pandemic how we didn’t have enough PPE and how difficult it was to find it. It’s shocking to find out some has been dumped here.”
A NFDC spokesperson said the discovery was made after an inspection at the caravan park on 4 April. “This inspection revealed that a large quantity of PPE was being stored on the land in contravention of the caravan site licence conditions. The council, in its licensing capacity, has requested that the stored items be removed from the land,” they added.
“Subsequent inspections have been carried out by Hampshire county council and The Environment Agency. All the material is packaged and palletized and is due to be removed from the site for processing and recycling into plastic bags over the coming weeks. The Environment Agency will continue to carry out further enquires as to source of the material and how it came to be present on the land.”
An inspector from The Environment Agency was seen taking samples of the equipment on Monday. A spokesperson added: “While any investigation is ongoing, we are unable to comment further in order to not prejudice any investigations or subsequent enforcement decisions.”
HCC confirmed it was working with the agency to investigate.
