WASTE CRIME – WASTE RISKS

Conference of the Parties also established the Environmental
Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal
Traffic (ENFORCE). Its mission is, through a network of
relevant experts, to promote the Parties’ compliance with the
provisions of the Basel Convention pertaining to preventing
and combating illegal traffic in hazardous wastes and other
wastes through the better implementation and enforcement
of national law (Basel Convention 2011).
At the regional level, the European Union Network for the
Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law
(IMPEL) has been running waste shipment inspection
projects within the European region since 2003. The current
project, Enforcement Actions, records inspections undertaken
by competent authorities at ports, railhead, roads, and
waste sites during three inspection periods each year, each
lasting three days. The data collected provides a snapshot
of inspection methods, the main waste streams involved in
illegal waste shipments, and their intended destinations.
The 2014 data from IMPEL shows that 70 per cent of illegal
shipments detected in Europe were going to other European
countries. Illegal shipments to Asia accounted for 20 per
cent of the violations. China, including Hong Kong SAR, was
the preferred destination for illegal shipments to non-OECD
countries, accounting for almost 56 per cent of total violations
detected for shipments to developing countries. The major
waste streams involved in transport violations were mixed
municipal waste (20 per cent), wood (15.2 per cent), paper
and cardboard (12.9 per cent), plastics (9.9 per cent), metals
(9.5 per cent), and waste electrical and electronic equipment
(9.4 per cent). Further analysis of violations related to paper
and plastics is needed to ascertain whether these violations
are associated with the quality of the recyclates (IMPEL 2014).
A follow up phase of the operation in July 2014 focused on
building capacity to combat the trafficking of waste and other
environmentally regulated substances in Asia.
In 2010, a global joint operation with ten participatory
countries, including the United States and Hong Kong,
targeted illegal shipments of waste under the INECE
Seaport Environmental Security Network and found that
the illegal waste streams most often encountered during
the event were: electronic waste (e-waste) falsely declared
as second-hand goods; waste batteries falsely declared as
plastic or mixed metal scrap; cathode ray tubes from television
and computer monitors wrongly described as metal
scrap; and refrigerators containing chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) (INECE 2010).
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