Last year alone, the county discovered more than 1,000 illegal waste sites.

Waste360 Staff, Staff

September 23, 2016

1 Min Read
Waste Crime Costs England More Than $1.3B Per Year

In England, illegal waste activity costs the country approximately $1.3 billion per year. Last year alone, the county discovered more than 1,000 illegal waste sites, 662 of which were still active at the end of March.

Some of these crimes include a Leeds waste criminal who received a seven-and-a-half year sentence for scamming the electrical waste recycling industry out of 20,000 tonnes of waste and a Sussex man who illegally stockpiled more than 1,200 tonnes of waste.

The Guardian has more:

Waste crime is the “new narcotics” according to the head of the Environment Agency (EA), offering huge profits as the authorities race to catch up with the damage caused to society.

Illegal waste activity costs England £1bn a year and more than 1,000 illegal waste sites were discovered last year, more than in the previous two years combined, with 662 still active as of the end of March.

The offences, sometimes involving organised crime gangs, ranged from illegal dumping of household and industrial waste to massive frauds involving recycling fees and landfill tax. However, action by the EA led to almost 1,000 illegal sites being shut down last year, with fines and prosecutions doubling.

Read the full story here.

About the Author(s)

Stay in the Know - Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Join a network of more than 90,000 waste and recycling industry professionals. Get the latest news and insights straight to your inbox. Free.

You May Also Like