Earlier this year, the Waste Minister, Rebecca Pow MP, announced new reforms intended to target waste criminals as the Government looks to meet its target of eliminating waste crime by 2043. A noble aim, that I’m sure those reading won’t fault or argue with. However, is the Government on course to achieve its ambitious target?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) certainly doesn’t think so. Last year, it issued a critical report of the Government's and the Environment Agency’s approach to waste crime, claiming that they had essentially decriminalised it, with criminals viewing fines as a necessary cost of doing business.
The report also set out a series of recommendations on how to tackle waste crime, including the introduction of a digital waste tracking system – something that is yet to be piloted, despite being in development for the last four years. Defra remains adamant the system will be launched next year, but this seems unlikely given the so-called ‘culture of delay’ at Defra and the complexities of introducing such a system.
The report also highlighted the lack of support local authorities are receiving to tackle waste crime effectively. At FCC Environment, we recently partnered with LARAC to poll its members on their views of tackling waste crime within their authority, and the headlines were clear.
The overwhelming majority of respondents (95 per cent) said that the Environment Agency has insufficient enforcement funding to effectively tackle waste crime and is not taking enough enforcement action. Meanwhile, 91 per cent said their local authority does not have enough resources and capacity to effectively tackle waste crime.
Clearly, the additional £775,000 announced by Minister Pow earlier this year to tackle fly-tipping is going to be a mere drop in the ocean when it comes to tackling an issue that costs British taxpayers at least £1 billion each year.
Unsurprisingly, when it comes to effectively building an understanding of the full extent of waste crime – which in turn hinders any preventative measures that could be taken – local authorities reported the main challenges to be data, cost and human resources.
There was also a consensus that there is insufficient public awareness about the different forms waste crime takes; most people presume it is just small-scale fly-tipping – which creates further difficulty in combatting the mounting problem.
Will the Government meet its pledge of eliminating waste crime by 2043? The answer from LARAC members is stark: 77 per cent of local authorities don’t think so.
