Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Washington

The Environment Agency records 27 historic landfill sites in and around Washington. covering roughly 80 hectares in total. The largest is Springwell Quarry No.3 at 17.97 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to industrial waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

Recorded landfill boundaries around Washington (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Springwell Quarry No.317.97 ha1989Inert
Springwell Quarry No.112.33 ha1984IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Rickleton Playing Fields4.43 ha1994Inert
Calders Site3.6 ha1982Inert
Clementis Crescent - Greymare Quarry3.59 ha1982HouseholdInert
Tube Products3.44 haInert
Red Bungalows3.3 haWaste types not recorded
Natural Stone Quarries Limited3.27 haWaste types not recorded
Cox Green A3.18 haWaste types not recorded
Pattinson South2.87 ha1980Inert
Low Mount Farm2.63 ha1985Inert
Six Houses2.37 haHousehold
Natural Stone Quarries Limited2.13 haWaste types not recorded
Biddick Lane1.83 ha1993Inert
North House Farm1.82 ha1984Inert
Stephenson Industrial Estate1.52 ha1988Inert
Galloping Green1.49 haWaste types not recorded
Uplands1.44 haWaste types not recorded
Northside Eighton Banks1.4 ha1983IndustrialInert
Cox Green B Quarry0.91 ha1982IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Mount Lane0.89 haWaste types not recorded
Seldom Seen0.86 haWaste types not recorded
Calders Site0.68 ha1982Inert
Calders Site0.61 haWaste types not recorded
Jubilee Tip0.53 haWaste types not recorded
Sugarwell Quarry0.2 haWaste types not recorded
Oxclose Quarry0.2 haWaste types not recorded

What this data does — and doesn't — cover

  • Licensed-era records only. Waste licensing began in 1974. Older tips — especially small pre-war ones — are incompletely recorded, so absence from this data does not mean no landfill ever existed here.
  • Not the contaminated-land register. Councils hold a separate register of land determined as contaminated. A historic landfill entry is not a contamination determination, and vice versa.
  • Boundaries are indicative. Digitised at 1:10,000 scale; some are buffers around a point rather than surveyed edges.
  • Not a substitute for a formal environmental search. If you're buying, your conveyancer's environmental search checks this and several other sources.

EA Historic Landfill dataset, October 2025 revision. More on the methodology page.

Common questions

How many former landfill sites are there in Washington?
27 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Washington town centre in the Environment Agency's Historic Landfill dataset (October 2025 revision). Pre-1974 sites are incompletely recorded, so the true historical number is likely higher.
How do I check a specific address in Washington?
Search the postcode on Landfill Check — you'll see every recorded site within 1km, with distance, direction and waste types, measured to the site boundary.

Nearby areas

Worth reading: buying a house near a former landfill and what the waste types mean.