Waste Crime – Waste Risks: Gaps in Meeting the Global Waste Challenge
A UNEP Rapid Response Assessment
United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi and Arendal
Contributors: Rucevska I., Nellemann C., Isarin N., Yang W., Liu N., Yu K., Sandnæs S., Olley K., McCann H., Devia L., Bisschop L., Soesilo D., Schoolmeester T., Henriksen, R., Nilsen, R.
2015 :: 68 pages :: ISBN: 978-82-7701-148-6
Pdf: http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/waste-crime

From Executive Summary
Waste covers a very wide spectrum of discarded materials ranging from municipal, electrical and electronic, industrial and agricultural, to new types including counterfeit pesticides. It also includes anything in size and scale from decommissioned ships, oil or liquid wastes, hundreds of millions of mobile phones to billions of used car tires.

With rising global population, urbanisation and consumption, the amount of waste continues to increase, providing vast environmental, social, health, economic and even criminal challenges of unknown proportions. Due to high costs of treating and disposing hazardous and other wastes, weak environmental regulations, poor enforcement and low environmental awareness, illegal transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wasted from developed countries to developing countries have become an increasing global concern.

Despite the significant efforts undertaken in the framework of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and by some government agencies, detailed knowledge of the illegal transnational flows remains limited and at best fragmented…

Recommendations
:: Strengthen awareness, monitoring and information:
1. Acknowledge and raise further awareness of waste crime as an important threat to security, people and environment.
2. Strengthen mapping of scale, routes and state of hazardous waste and possible involvement of organized crime.
a. Strengthen awareness and request countries to specifically address the risks associated with organized crime involvement in waste management.
b. Strengthen awareness in the enforcement chain and of prosecutors of the risks for conducting fraud, tax fraud and money laundering through the waste sector.
3. Encourage non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to expose waste crimes and build awareness of the massive health risks to waste end-users. If waste recycling activities are taken up there should be an adequate knowledge of sound recycling methods to prevent direct exposure to toxic substances.

:: Strengthen national legislation and enforcement capacities:
4. Strengthen national legislation and control measures by:
a. Improving national legislation frameworks as the primary basis for effectively and efficiently combating and monitoring of hazardous waste crimes. Establish the required
competences and resources for the responsible law enforcement authorities to perform their duties, including inspections of transboundary movements within their mandates.
b. Strengthen multi-agency cooperation at the national level between enforcement agencies – customs, police, environment authorities, and prosecutors.
c. Build capacities of the entire enforcement chains, including customs, police, environmental enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges, to address waste crimes.
d. Strengthen the capacity of customs authorities to enforce waste crimes mitigation through application of the UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme (CCP) or Green Customs Initiative (GCI) protocols.
e. Promote identification of the tariff codes corresponding with the Codes of Basel Convention present in Annex I, in Annex VIII and Annex IX.

:: Strengthen international treaties and compliance measures:
5. Strengthen effective monitoring and enforcement approaches at global, regional and sub-regional levels, including sharing of tools, best practices and intelligence for environmental inspectors, police and customs officers using existing networks such as the UNODC and INTERPOL. Environmental inspectors may also consider taking part in networks like IMPEL within the EU to share information with fellow government environmental agencies.

:: Promote prevention measures and synergies:
6. Facilitate the proper return of illegal waste shipments at cost to shipper as a measure of prevention. Proceed with a technical assessment of quantities and qualities of abandoned containers particularly in Asia and of dumping of hazardous waste worldwide.
7. Take a comprehensive and integrated approach in combating environmental crime and exploring opportunities for building synergies with current efforts in combating wildlife and Ozone depleting substance (ODS) trafficking 8. Encourage waste producers and waste management companies to share experiences and lessons learned and obtain control of the downstream supply chain through
a) the contract to document the value chain until the end disposal or recycling, and b) a legal obligation that only players with the necessary licenses all along the chain can handle the waste. This applies for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The waste management companies are encouraged to agree upon business standards that exempt so called “grey zones” in legislation to secure environmentally sounds waste management practices.