£1bn cost of organised waste crime

Call for crackdown on fly-tipping by criminal gangs

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THE Environment Agency, police and other agencies are failing to tackle fly-tipping by organised crime groups, a cross-party group of peers has found.

In a letter to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee called on the Government to set up an independent review of serious and organised waste crime.

The committee argued that while fly-tipping is causing significant environmental, social and economic costs of around £1 billion every year, it is being drastically under-prioritised.

The letter said: “We are deeply concerned about the demonstrable inadequacy of the current approach to tackling waste crime.”

The peers also said they were ‘unimpressed with the lack of interest shown by the police in fulfilling their role by bringing to bear their expertise in tackling serious and organised waste crime.’