£1billion: 38,000 nurses, or clearing up waste crime?

Fly-tipping at Riverside Drive, Rochdale

Waste crime is estimated to cost the UK economy £1 billion per year – that is the same as the combined starting salary of over 38,000 newly-qualified nurses.

Waste crime can take on many different forms from the very visible dumping of waste to fraudulent producer responsibility claims, deliberate breaches of permits, metal theft and the growing issue of the waste industry being used to launder money.

The Environment Agency has launched its National Waste Crime Survey to help refine the approach to stopping waste criminals and focus efforts where they are needed and ensure current powers are adequate to stop them.

The survey aims to:

• understand the scale and impacts of waste crime in England
• find out what will encourage people to report waste criminals
• understand what will deter people from committing a waste crime
• assess the effectiveness of action taken by the Environment Agency and its partners to reduce waste crime

The Environment Agency wants to hear from victims of waste crime such as landowners, insurance companies and residents as well as from those who can provide us with important information, such as industry.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “Our aspiration is to reduce the impact of serious and organised crime in the UK waste industry, protecting the economy, environment, infrastructure, and communities by targeting those criminals posing the greatest risk.

“Waste criminals are often involved in other types of offending such as drugs, firearms, theft, money laundering and modern slavery. We are working with all our partner agencies, using the powers available to each organisation, to stop these people.

“We are making progress, but we can be even more successful if everybody (including industry) tells us what is going on, and what the next crime trend might be. We are trying to stay one step ahead, but we need your help.

“An easy and anonymous way to do this is to respond to our National Waste Crime Survey. In the 2021 survey, you told us that nearly 20% of waste is suspected to be handled illegally but only 25% of waste crime incidents are reported to the Environment Agency.”

The survey can be filled out here and should be carried out by 27 February.