Serious organised crime groups involved in illegal waste activities have the capacity to inflict lasting harm on Scotland and have attracted the attention of Interpol, SEPA has told the Scottish Parliaments Justice Committee.
In a roundtable discussion at the Committees evidence session on environmental crime in Edinburgh yesterday (August 12), the organisation reiterated its call for improved partnership with organisations in the UK and intelligence exchange in order to bring waste criminals to justice.
The Agency warned that based on SEPA case reporting since January 2013, an estimated 20% of all serious organised crime groups have been linked or directly involved in the waste industry a figure that includes Scotlands top tier criminals.
In a written evidence submission, Callum MacDonald, executive director of SEPA, also produced an update on the Waste Crime Team a new unit set up in November 2013 that took over the organised crime remit of the Agencys support team.
Mr MacDonald said: This is an 18-month pilot project involving an enhanced skills-set of experienced professional regulatory officers as well as specialist investigators, who have been tasked to initiate and lead on significant investigations into waste crime.
We propose to take-up the offer extended by Police Scotland to embed a SEPA Intelligence Officer within the Scottish Crime Campus to support the mapping and targeting of SOCG within the waste industry which we believe is a key to future progress in understanding and tackling this threat.
International
Mr MacDonald added that SEPA was also working with Interpol to tackle waste crime on an international scale. The Environmental Crime Task Force, which was established by the environment secretary Richard Lochhead in 2011, is of particular interest to Interpol as an example of best enforcement practice.
Meanwhile, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives Scotland (SOLACE) warned that the current rate of Landfill Tax, set at 80 per tonne, as well as 30-40 gate fees were contributing factors in the large scale illegal dumping of waste.
The local authority body went on to warn that landfill tax levels must remain the same across the UK to reduce the risk of cross-border waste movements, with operators seeking the lowest disposal costs.
Scotland is currently scheduled to take control over setting and collecting its own landfill tax rates from April next year, with Wales to follow in April 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Costs
SOLACE portfolio lead, John W Mundell, stated: It is important that landfill tax levels remain the same across the UK or there may be an increase in cross boundary movement of waste to help defray operators disposal costs within the country with the highest tax levies. This would also increase the carbon footprint of the waste process.
An Environmental Crime Conference is to be held in November 2014 to focus on serious waste crime, which will be directed to appropriate operational officers and other stakeholders.
The event will be attended by Mr Lochhead, ECTF, representatives from the Police Service of Scotland, SOLACE, SEPA and HMRC.
Meanwhile, the Justice Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government highlighting the points raised in the evidence session.
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