Thousands of unused PPE packs have been found dumped by a nature reserve to the horror of locals at the waste.
It has led to questions over whether the PPE was substandard leading to the mountain of equipment dumped in the New Forest town of Calmore, bordering Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve and AFC Totton Football Club.
The shocking discovery was uncovered at a Hampshire County Council (HCC) meeting, where it was revealed the 'large scale' littering had taken place - but their origin remains a mystery.
Pictures show hoards of aprons and suspected face masks left in an enormous heap and committee members were left questioning how such a huge example of fly-tipping could have gone unnoticed.
HCC have contacted the Environment Agency to work out whether the protective gear was left during the Covid pandemic because it was defected.
During the Covid pandemic the Department for Health and Social Care spent £12billion on PPE - but the allocation of contracts and purchasing of medical clothing has been criticised.
In 2022, the government revealed DHSC lost 75% of its first-year budget to inflated prices and defected kit - including £4 billion of unusable PPE which was set to be be burnt 'to generate power'.
Now, a report from the HCC Regulatory Committee meeting, revealed the discovery was made following an investigation by New Forest District Council into use of land at Litle Testwood Farm Caravan Park in Hampshire.
The report 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. The EA have been contacted to see if they can determine where the PPE originated and whether it was discarded by a Health Trust as substandard during the Covid procurement.
"Enquiries have been made with Land Registry to ascertain land ownership, although this has flagged up a possible HCC link as we are mentioned in one clause in relation to a s106 Agreement."
Councillor Peter Latham, who is chairman of the Regulatory Committee, said he and fellow members were shocked when they were made aware of the dumping.
"It was a surprise to put it mildly - a reaction of horror," he said. "That something like that could have happened in Hampshire and nobody knew about it.
"It looked to us just like the masks, but there could be aprons as well. It should have been properly disposed of, probably to a recycling centre.
"We don't know where it came from and who put it there. Clearly, it shouldn't have been dumped there - we're looking into the land registry to see who owns the land to see what was agreed between those who dumped it.
"Ideally we wish to know who owns the PPE in the first place, who was responsible for disposing it, why they disposed of it there."
A council officer told members that the PPE kits were 'hidden away', adding: "It is a really good example of where there has been an illegal dumping of waste."
Mr Latham, who has been chair of the Regulatory Committee for six years, continued: "I've never seen anything like this before. None of us have."
The council has now launched an 'enforcement activity' with the Environment Agency, police and New Forest District Council to find out further details.
Julian Lewis MP for New Forest East said: "The unauthorised disposal of such a huge quantity of medical aprons should be relatively easy to investigate and its history traced.
"One long-term lesson from all this is that never again should the United Kingdom be caught without strategic reserve stocks of protective medical clothing."
An EA spokesperson confirmed they were due to visit the site next week, adding: "We are unable to comment further in order to not prejudice any investigations or subsequent enforcement decisions."
HCC was unwilling to comment with an investigation ongoing.
