The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has held its second oral evidence session as part of its inquiry into waste crime.
Former President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Dr Anna Willetts, Co-Convener at UK Environmental Law Association Waste Working Party, gave evidence to the peers about the scale, impacts and regulation of waste crime.
Dr Willetts was joined by Matthew Scott, Commissioner at Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent, and David Sidwick, Commissioner at Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset.
The inquiry is considering waste crime, with a focus on serious and organised waste crime, such as illegal waste sites and illegal dumping that pose a serious environmental risk.
As part of her evidence, Dr Willetts spoke about the sophistication of waste criminals, citing examples of rogue operators using apps to communicate with the general public and appear as legitimate operators.
Dr Willetts also raised the example of one of her former clients who was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for knowingly permitting the illegal deposit of waste on their land.
She explained to the peers that almost overnight, the site they were renting out was filled up with waste tyres by a tenant, who quickly disappeared.
Dr Willetts explained that the client called the Environment Agency ‘begging for help’, but was later investigated and prosecuted.
“(T)hat’s a real frustration, and I think that alludes to what Matthew said about the people who are actually doing the crime are not worried they’re going to be caught, because look what happened: the landowner is investigated, not them,” Dr Willetts said.
“They’re (waste crime offenders) very quick, they moved very quickly, and I said earlier that word I use is very sophisticated.”
Dr Willetts spoke to Circular Online earlier this year about when landowners are liable for waste crimes committed by their tenants.
The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee’s inquiry is seeking to understand the avenues for and prevalent forms of waste crime and their impacts.
It is also assessing the efficacy of current regulatory, monitoring and enforcement regimes and considering the government’s plans to address the problem.
The Committee is scheduled to hear from other industry stakeholders next week (17 September) as part of the ongoing inquiry.
Dan Cooke, Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at CIWM, gave evidence as part of the first oral evidence session last week (3 September).
Speaking to the Committee, Cooke warned the peers that waste crime is a ‘1 billion pound problem’ and is getting worse. He also warned about the significant scale of unknown waste crime.