Mountain of PPE which was dumped near a nature reserve is f…

A mountain of PPE which was dumped near a nature reserve has finally been cleared away.

Healthcare workers were among those left furious after piles of boxes containing aprons and face masks were left in an enormous heap in the New Forest town of Calmore earlier this year.

The mess of discarded medical equipment, dubbed ‘crucial’ by some professionals, dominated the landscape for nearly five months.

The unnamed company responsible for the ‘large scale’ littering was ordered by the Environment Agency to remove the PPE kits by September 6, but it is unknown where it has been taken.

One suggestion, made by a removals driver at the site, was that the material was going to be turned into plastic bags for the NHS. 

A graphic shows how the site looked before and after the mountain of

Healthcare workers were among those left furious after piles of boxes containing aprons and face masks were left in an enormous heap in the New Forest town of Calmore earlier this year 

An aerial view shows the vast extent of the dumping as mountains of PPE containers are visible 

The unnamed man – driving a tractor with a large trailer attached to transport the PPE away – said: ‘It hasn’t been dumped. It was in inside storage but the NHS didn’t use it and so it’s been stored here (since then).

‘It’s all on palettes in a pile – that’s not dumping it. It’s on private land. It’s being taken to be recycled into plastic bags for the NHS.’

The Environment Agency has confirmed its officers monitored the removal to ensure there is no further impact on the site.

The discovery was uncovered at a Hampshire County Council (HCC) meeting, when it was revealed the ‘large scale’ littering had taken place but the origin of the vital equipment remains unknown.

Piles of aprons and suspected face masks were left in an enormous heap in the New Forest town of Calmore, bordering Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve and AFC Totton Football Club.

A district council spokesperson said it carried out a routine inspection as part of its annual inspection regime on April 4 and found the pile.

The pile of PPE was mentioned in a report from the HCC Regulatory Committee meeting, which reads: ‘Following their own investigations into the use of land as a caravan park, New Forest District Council reported the large-scale storage of packs of old PPE.

‘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.’

During the Covid pandemic the Department for Health and Social Care spent £12 billion on PPE – but the allocation of contracts and purchasing of medical clothing has been the subject of much criticism.

The mess of discarded medical equipment, dubbed ‘crucial’ by some professionals, dominated the landscape for nearly five months 

The unnamed company responsible for the ‘large scale’ littering was ordered by the Environment Agency to remove the PPE kits by September 6, but it is unknown where it has been taken 

In 2022, the government revealed DHSC lost 75 per cent of its first year budget to inflated prices and defective kit – including £4 billion of unusable PPE which was set to be be burnt ‘to generate power’.

An EA spokesman said last week: ‘As part of an ongoing investigation into the storage of PPE on private land in the New Forest, we have set a number of conditions on the company responsible, including the site be completely cleared of the material by September 6.

‘The PPE is in the process of being removed, and our specialist officers are monitoring progress to ensure no environmental impact on land or water.

‘The company concerned is making good progress in removing all of the PPE, but specialist Environment Agency officers continue to monitor the site.’

By the end of Sunday the site appeared to have been fully cleared.

The EA has been asked if it knows where the PPE has now been taken and what will happen to it.