A House of Lords committee is calling on the Government to get
tough on serious and organised waste crime by setting up a root
and branch review* after highlighting multiple failures by the
Environment Agency, the ineffectiveness of its Joint Unit for
Waste Crime and a lack of interest shown by the police in
tackling what has been described as “the new narcotics”.
In a letter sent today, Tuesday 28 October, to MP, Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the cross-party Environment
and Climate Change Committee raised concerns that despite
significant environmental, social and economic costs, in the
region of £1 billion every year, waste crime is being drastically
under-prioritised.
The letter follows a short inquiry which heard from a range of
witnesses including; community groups, the Environment Agency, a
Government Minister and officials, Police and Crime Commissioners
and waste management specialists.
Whilst it welcomes and supports the Government's commitment to
transitioning to a circular economy to help eliminate waste
crime, the committee is also calling on:
- the Government to establish a single telephone number and
online reporting tool for the public to report waste crime;
- the Joint Unit for Waste Crime to improve collaboration
between bodies with responsibility for waste crime at the local
level (especially policing and local government), particularly in
respect of the handling of reports and sharing of
intelligence;
- the Treasury to review rules on managing public money
preventing the Environment Agency to divert resources from its
regulatory work to crime enforcement and maintain additional
funding provided to the Environment Agency in 2025/26;
- the Environment Agency to implement its proposed waste crime
levy;
- the Government to fully assess the risks that landfill tax
reform will increase other forms of waste crime and lead to the
abandonment of landfill sites;
- the Government to ensure phase 1 of the implementation of
mandatory digital waste tracking is delivered on time and provide
funding to enable the expansion of digital waste tracking to
waste carriers from 2027;
- the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to
develop interim targets with a comprehensive set of metrics to
measure progress, which should be published quarterly.
, Chair of the House of
Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee said;
“During our inquiry we heard that over 38 million tonnes of waste
(enough to fill Wembley Stadium 35 times) is being illegally
dumped each year mainly by established organised crime groups
involved in drugs, firearms, money laundering and modern slavery.
Despite the scale and seriousness of the crimes, raised by the
members of the public in many cases, we have found multiple
failings by the Environment Agency and other agencies from slow
responses to repeated public reports (as in the case of Hoad's
Wood, Kent) through to a woeful lack of successful convictions.
The Government and other agencies must act now on our
recommendations, including starting an independent review. There
is no time to waste.”
