SEPA is leading multi-agency work to target illegal cross-border waste haulage and disposal as part of a £3.8 million project.
The LIFE SMART Waste project is co-funded by the European Union and will see SEPA team up with police forces across Britain and the English, Welsh and Northern Irish environment agencies on a ‘Drive out waste crime’ initiative.
Illegally dumped waste at a site in Fife (Picture: SEPA)
The initiative involves a series of road stops, site visits and awareness-raising activity to remind hauliers of their responsibilities relating to waste haulage and disposal.
“Intelligence gathered by the LIFE SMART Waste project indicates that waste is being hauled from England and Wales and illegally deposited in Scotland,” said Kath McDowall, unit manager in SEPA’s waste crime investigations team.
“Several companies are known to be involved and many of these are under investigation by SEPA’s Waste Crime Investigation Team for criminal offences. There are also indications of serious and organised crime group involvement in the transport, sale and disposal of illegal waste – so it’s vital that we work with partners across the UK to tackle this issue.”
Action
The action on waste crime has included two days of out-of-hours road stops last month, specifically targeting lorries and vans travelling to and from ferry crossings to Northern Ireland. These aimed to gather intelligence on waste crime including metal theft, and were led by British Transport Police.
According to SEPA, metal theft is estimated to cost the UK at least £220m a year. Since September 2016, it has been illegal in Scotland to trade scrap metal for cash or accept scrap metal without verifying the identity of the seller, SEPA says. Similar laws are in place across England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
“Hauliers may be committing an offence by transporting or illegally disposing of metal or other waste without the required permissions and this could leave them liable to prosecution and operational sanctions,” said detective inspector Arlene Wilson of the British Transport Police, which is the national policing lead on metal theft in Scotland, England and Wales.
“Criminals often believe they can escape the law by crossing the border into another jurisdiction. But with multi-agency partners working together and sharing intelligence across the UK, this just isn’t the case.”
(l-r) PC Alan Hope, Police Scotland; Jim Scott, Scottish Business Resilience Centre; Kath McDowall, SEPA; Gary Tupper, Environment Agency; Daniel Wild, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Gretna
A third multi-agency road stop took place yesterday, 3 October, at Gretna Services on the A74 (M) and A1 to address cross-border activity including the illegal dumping of waste and transport of other potential illicit goods, alongside road traffic offences. This involved both SEPA and Environment Agency officers conducting joint duty of care and waste carrier checks on vehicles crossing the border.
The waste crime activity also included a site visit this week to a scrap metal site in the Lanarkshire area, to look for possible signs of metal theft or stolen vehicles.
As part of the initiative, SEPA has created a Drive out waste crime flyer that has been handed out at road checks and placed in service stations and truck stops on the M74 and A, to warn hauliers about waste crime and their responsibilities.
Partners
The Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency are SEPA’s partner enforcement agencies on the waste crime activity, alongside Police Scotland and forces in England and Wales, British Transport Police, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Office of the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, HM Revenue and Customs and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.
SEPA’s trade partners for the Drive out waste crime campaign include the Freight Transport Association, Road Haulage Association, Transport Association and British International Freight Association, with further industry dissemination support from the National Farmers Union, AXA Insurance, Zurich Insurance and the British Insurers Brokers Association (BIBA).
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
