Fly-tipping, illegal tips and tax evasion are costing the UK more than half a billion pounds a year, according to a report on waste crime.
Crimes such as dumped building rubble and deliberate misclassification of waste to evade tax are "widespread and endemic", according to the report commissioned by the Environmental Services Association Education Trust (ESAET) and conducted by Eunomia.
But despite the scale of the problem, the Environment Agency, that tackles waste crime, is set to lose 1,700 staff by the end of the year and has admitted it expects to "reduce our work on illegal waste activities". The Sentencing Council last week recommended increasing fines for waste dumping, from well below £1m to up to £3m.
The Guardian: Waste crime costs UK more than half a billion pounds a year, report warns
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