When I read the headlines of the sector press it is obvious that waste crime does pay and is increasing. During my time as the Chair of the Environmental Services Association (ESA) I commissioned a report in 2014 with Eunomia entitled “Britain’s dirty little secret” which exposed the scale of the problem and resulted in extra funding for the Environment Agency (EA) to tackle these crimes. However, in the media I read of cases involving waste crime daily and these are only a fraction of the crimes taking place across the Country of what has become a £1 Billion p.a. industry.
The EA has just closed its 2025 National Waste Crime Survey following those held in 2021 and 2023. Despite the latest results not being published yet I can confidently predict the findings. Waste crime will be more prevalent than ever, only 25% of crimes will be reported, even less investigated and solved and the cost to the public purse will have grown. Why we expect different results each second year when we continue not to remove the attractive nature of this crime to the criminals who see this as “easy money” I’m unsure. With low detection rates, high financial gains and pitifully low penalties even when caught and prosecuted the waste sector is a magnet for those who see an ability to exploit it.
The EA strapped for cash has consulted recently, to secure more funding for its efforts against waste crime, by placing a 10% levy on annual subsistence charges for certain permits. The money is destined to be used to fund greater scrutiny of waste sites. Clearly legitimate operators fear that instead of this money being used to tackle dangerous criminality it is used to ramp up oversight on those legitimate operators who have funded the levy.
The Government as the EA knows that crime gravitates to where the greatest pickings are to be gained yet propose nothing more than limited funds to tackle an epidemic. The sector and the EA need the Government to recognise the harm that waste crime does for the economy and the environment and create harsher penalties and sentencing for those involved. Digital waste tracking which has been delayed several times over recent years needs to be implemented now as this will highlight the movements of material and allow better scrutiny of where waste is going and its classification to prevent the ease and gain of mis-description.
At £1 Billion of revenue flowing through the books of legitimate operators representing new tax receipts, the Treasury who looks for ways of balancing the books should lobby the Home Secretary to make sure that waste crime does not actually pay!
