US EditionUrgent action needed to stop fly-tipping by gangs, peers say
Peers highlight £1 billion annual costs from fly-tipping and urge reforms, including a joint waste crime unit and independent review to strengthen enforcement.
- In a letter to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee asked the government to set up an independent root-and-branch review of serious and organised waste crime after a short inquiry.
- Committee chairwoman Baroness Sheehan said over 38 million tonnes of waste is illegally dumped annually mainly by organised crime groups involved in drugs, firearms, money laundering and modern slavery.
- Peers criticised the Environment Agency and police for slow responses and few convictions, but last year dedicated enforcement teams shut down 462 illegal waste sites and stopped nearly 34,000 tonnes being illegally exported.
- The peers called for the Treasury to review public-money rules so the Environment Agency can divert resources to crime enforcement and maintain additional funding next year, while urging Defra to develop interim targets and assess landfill tax reform risks.
- An Environment Agency spokesperson said `We recognise the recommendations of the report and are committed to doing more,` while thousands of tonnes dumped in Hoad's Wood in Ashford, Kent were cleared earlier this year.
10 Articles
10 Articles
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Peers call for crackdown on 'serious and organised' waste crime
Landfill. Image UN Photo Martin Shipton Regulators need to get tough with serious and organised waste crime that has been described as “the new narcotics”, according to a report from a House of Lords committee. Although the report from the cross-party Environment and Climate Change Committee concentrates on the situation in England, there is evidence that the issues are the same in Wales. In a letter to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds dated …
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