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The Environment Agency cracks down on waste crime

The first Annual Waste Crime Report has been published by the Environment Agency (EA), showing good results for 2011.

The EA have announced that the number of people sent to prison for committing serious waste crime offences has almost trebled in the last three years. The report shows that 335 individuals and companies were successfully prosecuted in 2011 for such offences.

The report also shows a significant rise in the number and size of fines handed out by the courts to waste criminals. Serious waste crimes in 2011 attracted £1.7 million in fines, which was an increase of £800,000 from the previous year.

The EA are also using the confiscation powers granted under the Proceeds of Crime 2002, which were originally designed to seize the assets of drug dealers. In 2011, the courts ordered £2.2 million worth of assets to be confiscated from those making money through waste crime by granting 26 confiscation orders. The largest one being in excess of £800,000.

The EA are not finished there, they are investing a further £4.9 million over the next 18 months on a taskforce to target illegally operating waste sites in England and Wales.

Andrew Higham, Head of the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Team commented: “Waste crime can cause pollution, pose risks to people’s health and undercut legitimate businesses. We’ve stepped up the fight and we are increasingly seeing waste offenders being made to pay for their crimes.”

“But we are not complacent and there is more to do, particularly around cracking down on illegal waste sites. Our new Taskforce will help us break this cycle. However, we can’t do it on our own. We need everyone to play their part in helping to tackle waste crime.”

Andrew Swan, Head of Regulation and Financial Crime at Short Richardson & Forth LLP, commented: “The Environment Agency have really taken their gloves off in the fight against waste crimes. It is certainly interesting, but not surprising, to see them using confiscation orders to claw back the money made by those convicted of such crimes. We would normally see such powers used for more traditional white-collar crimes.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Swan .