Businesses will foot the bill of their own waste, says Michael Gove

It will also offer advice on how to present robust cases to the courts to ensure tougher penalties, including higher fines, more community sentences where fines are not sufficient, and in some cases prison sentences.

CLA President Tim Breitmeyer said: “The Government has shown it is serious about cracking down on waste by introducing tougher penalties for fly-tipping and by helping to reduce the amount of food sent to landfill.

Making polluters pay

“The creation of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime will help co-ordinate action between groups but it is critical adequate resources are available to support future action on waste crime work.

“Farmers and land managers are up for the challenge of helping to clean up our environment, although not at their own cost.”

A move to eliminate avoidable plastic waste should also help leave the environment in a better state than it was found, Mr Gove said, with other options to minimise ammonia emissions and how to recycle agricultural plastic.

Mr Gove said: “We will cut our reliance on single-use plastics, end confusion over household recycling, tackle the problem of packaging by making polluters pay, and end the economic, environmental and moral scandal that is food waste.”