WASTE CRIME – WASTE RISKS

The ULABs are valued for their lead content, which is recycled
for new products. Because of its toxic nature, lead reprocessing
requires strict control over possible environmental
pollution and high health and safety standards to protect
workers. The costs of environmentally sound management of
the batteries can, therefore, be high. Seeking cheaper options
for recycling leads, in some cases, to illegal exports.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) for
North America, in its latest assessment of hazardous trade,
concluded that the US has good control of ULABs exports to
the main destination countries (Mexico, Canada, and South
Korea). The US EPA, however, has no records for the other
47 destination countries receiving ULABs (Commission for
Environmental Cooperation 2013).
An emerging and potentially growing source of
hazardous waste: obsolete counterfeit pesticides
Although the scope of the problem at the global level has yet
to be evaluated due to recent awareness of its existence, it is
estimated that the trade in illegal pesticides in Europe alone
represents more than 10 per cent of the total world market,
and that more than 25 per cent of the pesticides in circulation
in some EU member states are illicit or counterfeit
(Europol 2011).
This illegal trade generates vast profits for its operators and
huge losses for both legitimate business and tax collectors
within national governments. But the cost is more than finan-
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