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Fri, 29 March 2024

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Government’s latest action on waste crime cautiously welcomed by the industry

Environmental Services Association

2 min read Partner content

The Environmental Services Association (ESA), the voice for the UK’s resource and waste management industry, today welcomed the Government’s response to “Proposals to tackle crime and poor performance in the waste sector & introduce a new fixed penalty for the waste duty of care”, but would like to see more detail and more progress in a number of key areas.  


ESA’s Head of Regulation, Sam Corp said: 
 
“It is encouraging to see the Government’s continuing commitment to tackling crime and poor performance in the waste sector, and this response points to a number of initial plans which should start the process of tightening up operator and technical competence at permitted facilities and should help to discourage operators who do not have the resources, the experience or the intention to operate within the law. Whilst we would have liked to have seen more detail on some key areas, such as reform to the carriers, brokers, dealers and exemptions regimes, perhaps it is not surprising that this detail has yet to emerge at a time when Brexit related matters seem to be demanding so much of Civil servants’ time”.  
 
“The proposal to introduce fixed penalty notices to householders who have failed in their duty of care, is a significant measure which should have a real impact by raising awareness of this important responsibility amongst householders. However, without a complete overhaul of the carriers, brokers, dealers regime - as previously recommended by ESA and others, including the Government’s own review into Serious and Organised Waste Crime - we retain our concerns about the effectiveness of this proposal to deter the ‘real’ criminals. Current requirements for becoming a registered waste carrier, broker or dealer are just not stringent enough. So, unfortunately, simply checking that you have passed your waste to a registered carrier does not provide any real guarantee that it will not then be flytipped. We therefore look forward to further Government action in the near future to tackle this issue”. 

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