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wasting time on wasting crime


MPs say the government’s approach to tackling much of the waste crime is closer to “decriminalisation” than fighting it.

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said Defra was not doing enough to support the council in tackling the scourge of fly-dumping and had no plans to meet its target of eliminating the £1bn-a-year waste crime problem by 2043.

legalization

Lawmakers say the current sanctions are not effective in preventing people from committing waste crimes, and the sector has attracted organised criminals who see fines for illegal activity as a “commercial expense”.

A report by the commission looks at ways to tackle waste crime, which includes dumping, illegal dumps and waste exports and evading landfill taxes.

It warned that crime around litter was on the rise, but the true scale of the problem was uncertain because of underreporting of underreported and undetected illegal dumps.

As UNEP focuses on the worst offenders, many waste crimes receive little or no enforcement action, with annual prosecutions down 90 per cent from their peak in 2007/08, the report said.

It warned: “Defra, if it is serious about eliminating waste crime, it has a long way to go in terms of the status quo where the current approach to dealing with most waste crime is closer to decriminalisation”.

fly tip

The report urges Defra, the Environment Agency and HMRC to develop a plan to improve enforcement efficiency, including speeding up court procedures and considering whether sentencing guidelines need to be strengthened.

Defra has also been criticised for not doing enough to help local authorities tackle the problem of flight dumping, which is prevalent in urban areas and also plagues rural communities, with 1.1 million incidents reported in 2020/21 and many more unreported .

The department should develop a clear national framework to address flyers, set expectations and promote good practice, while allowing parliamentary flexibility to respond to local circumstances.

While the landfill tax has encouraged recycling in recent years, it has increased the incentive to commit waste crimes, and HMRC has failed to prosecute those who evade the tax.

poisonous

The Environment Agency, which regulates the waste sector, is not doing enough to prevent an estimated 400,000 tonnes of waste from being illegally exported each year, costing the economy £42m and ultimately hurting poorer countries.

The commission has warned that progress in implementing the waste crime targets set four years ago has been “slow and piecemeal” and that key measures such as digital waste tracking are not even at the pilot stage.

PAC chair Mrs Meg Hillier said: “Another policy headline with no plan or apparent progress despite years of dedicated resources.

“The result is that real estate and the countryside have been battered by dumped rubbish, toxic spills into our soils and the illicit export of tons of rubbish from the UK to developing countries, even less so, to deal with its indefinite negative impact.

“As criminal gangs get more involved, they’re good at evading detection, and if they’re caught with a fine just a business expense, they’ll see the fine as much harsher,” she said.

obey

Environment Secretary Trudy Harrison said: “We are tackling waste crime, which costs England’s economy an estimated £924m a year.

“That’s why we’re reforming the licensing system, introducing mandatory digital waste tracking, investing in tackling flyovers and supporting people to do the right thing by disposing of their waste properly.”

Richard Las, Head of Operations, Fraud Investigation Services, HMRC, said: “We are committed to fighting waste crime and are updating our plans and increasing our compliance resources to achieve this.

“We also address landfill tax violations through site visits, helping businesses get their taxes right through early intervention, using data analytics and working closely with other government departments.”

He said its compliance work in the waste sector had garnered £873m over the past four years, which otherwise would not have been recovered, and prevented £1.5bn in erroneous repayment claims since 2017/18.

this author

Emily Beament is an environmental reporter for PA Media.



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