Rogue operators who illegally dump waste in Northern Ireland could go to jail for five years under tough new laws being introduced. The legislation will also increase the maximum fine and force offenders to pay the clean up and enforcement costs.

Ulster TV reports that it has emerged that government north and south of the border was facing a bill of up to £50m for cleaning up thousands of tonnes of litter from the Republic dumped in Northern Ireland. Environment Minister Arlene Foster said: "These new measures, to come into force on 25 June, will help in the fight against those who have no regard for the costs of their actions, not only in terms of the burden on the Northern Ireland taxpayer, but also in relation to damage to the environment and risk to public health."

Unauthorised operators - including organised criminal gangs - can generate profits of around #100 per tonne of illegal waste. This leads to a loss of some £24m in taxes each year.

Clean-up costs are around £1m per site. Investigators will be able to hold vehicles taken from those convicted under the Waste (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order. It was made in Westminster in March but only comes into force this month. Officials will be able to stop and search vehicles while judges can impose a fine of up to £50,000, increased from £20,000 under old laws.

There will be the removal of the defence of acting under an employer`s instructions for those charged with waste offences; new powers for district councils to require landowners to remove illegally deposited waste from their properties and a new daily fine for failure to obey a direction from the department concerning the management of controlled waste.

Other provisions contained in the Order will not come into effect at this stage. These surround registration of waste carriers, seizure of vehicles involved in waste offences and a requirement for developers and contractors on construction and demolition projects to prepare site waste management plans.

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth have criticised the two-year delay in retrieving waste which has been illegally dumped from the south to avoid punitive landfill charges. Household waste has been left lying in the ground, according to FoE, with pollutants seeping into streams and bogland across the north. Only 150 tonnes of the estimated 250,000 tonnes has been cleared.