Landfill Check

Shrub End

IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert

Shrub End is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Colchester, Essex. It received industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1958 and 1990, covering about 24.36 hectares. Reference EAHLD01730, October 2025 data revision.

Full record

EA referenceEAHLD01730
Site nameShrub End
AddressColchester, Essex
Site operatorEssex County Council
Licence holderEssex County Council
Licence issued31 May 1978
Licence surrenderedNot recorded
First waste input31 December 1958
Last waste input31 December 1990
Area24.36 ha
Gas controlYes
Leachate containmentYes
Licensed siteYes
EA areaEastern AN
Grid reference596600, 223200

Source: Environment Agency Historic Landfill Sites dataset, October 2025 revision.

Boundary map

What these waste types mean

Industrial:
factory and process waste. Contents vary widely — some benign, some not; the site's operator and era are the clues.
Household:
everyday domestic refuse. Decomposes and can generate landfill gas for a few decades after closure.
Commercial:
waste from shops and offices — paper, packaging, food. Similar profile to household waste, usually less of it.
Inert:
builder's rubble, subsoil, concrete, brick. Doesn't decompose or generate gas; the lowest-concern category.

Other historic landfill sites nearby

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.