Waste criminals most tempted by ‘misdescription’

The Agency defines misdescription as the incorrect description given to waste in order to avoid legal requirements for the material.

In the findings of the national waste crime survey for 2021, published this week, the Agency says 10% of respondents in the waste industry were “at least slightly tempted” by misdescription.

A quarter of the respondents also believe that the crime of misdescription is committed daily.

The Agency says its trommel fines campaign found that more than half the non-hazardous waste it sampled was misdescribed hazardous waste.

The motivation for misdescribing waste is “financial gain”, the Agency claims. The environmental regulator estimates that those in the sample misdescribing their waste evaded 36% of their annual landfill tax bill.

Organised crime groups and repeat offenders “deliberately” evade significant sums of landfill tax by misdescribing waste at the point of disposal, the Agency claims.

In 2021-22, the Environment Agency Misdescription Project will run a campaign on construction and demolition sites, as well as waste destined for export. The Agency says the project continues to share intelligence with HMRC to “root out” landfill tax fraud.

‘Endemic’

In total, the national waste crime survey received 839 responses from across the industry.

The Environment Agency claims the survey’s results show the sector believes waste crime to be “endemic” and “on the rise”, while the deterrents for active and ‘would-be’ waste criminals are “not strong enough”.

Malcolm Lythgo, the Agency’s head of waste regulation, said: “The more we know, the better we can be at tackling this blight on society. These findings are vital in shaping our front line and strategic response to waste crime and your submissions will contribute to securing future funding and investment that will allow us to tackle the growing threat that criminal activity in the waste sector poses to businesses, public services, communities and our fragile environment.”

Findings

According to the findings, the waste industry estimates that 18% of all waste is illegally managed, equating to approximately 34 million tonnes.

Largescale fly-tipping is perceived to have grown in the last 12 months, with 55% of respondents reporting an increase.

The respondents who were “most frequently” affected by waste crime in England reported experiencing economic impacts, with 73% reporting that they had incurred the financial cost of clean-up and 58% experiencing disruption to business operations. Service providers and local councils were most affected (92%) by the financial cost of clean-up.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents from the waste industry reported more than £5,000 in costs to their organisation in the last 12 months as a result of illegal waste sites.

More than four-fifths (85%) of respondents thought that waste crimes were more likely to be committed by repeat offenders. Thirty-five per cent of the sample thought they were more likely to be committed by organised criminal groups. More than half the sample felt that Environment Agency measures were fairly or very ineffective at deterring these groups.

‘The new narcotics’

The publication of the national waste survey’s findings follows the release of the data earlier in the year (see letsrecycle.com story). Waste crime costs the economy in England an estimated £1 billion per year, the Environment Agency says, a 55% increase since the last estimate made in 2015.

Sir James Bevan, the Agency’s chief executive, described waste crime as “the new narcotics”, given the potential for profit.

The survey ran in March 2021 and invited the waste industry, farmers, landowners, local councils, and service providers to share their experience of waste crime. The Agency plans to run the survey every two years.