National waste crime survey report 2021: summary
Published 4 October 2021
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-waste-crime-survey-report-2021-findings-and-analysis/national-waste-crime-survey-report-2021-summary
1. Chief Scientist’s Group report summary
The National Waste Crime Survey was established by the Environment Agency. It draws upon the experience and perception of waste crime from the following stakeholders:
- waste industry
- local authorities
- landowners
- farmers
It provides the Environment Agency with independent metrics on the scale and nature of waste crime that are unaffected by our operational resources or pressures.
1.1 Background
Waste criminals undercut legitimate business, damage our environment and are a blight on local communities. The more we know about how they operate and the impact of our enforcement action, the better we can target our resources to combat them.
1.2 Approach
The Environment Agency ran a pilot survey in February 2020. The lessons learned from the pilot fed into this survey carried out in March 2021. The farming community were added to the target population and new questions were included to capture the effects of EU Exit and COVID-19. Due to the differences highlighted, direct comparisons between the findings from 2020 and 2021 are limited.
1.3 Results
The headline findings from the 2021 survey are:
- waste crime is perceived as widespread with 18% of all waste estimated to be illegally managed
- notably more respondents believe that waste crime increased, rather than decreased
- financial and social impacts are the most frequently reported issues faced by those affected by waste crime
- the size of financial gain combined with low likelihood of being caught are perceived to be the key drivers of waste crime
- reporting rates are low with the sample group estimating that just 25% of waste crime events are reported to the Environment Agency
It is worth noting that the data collected via the survey is subjective and the sample groups are self-selecting, they are not chosen at random. The impacts of waste crime are highly complex. The survey questions asked respondents about the impacts that they had experienced in the last 12 months. The answer options focused upon the short-term consequences of waste crime. The long term effects on environmental and human health are yet to be explored with future sample groups.
1.4 Next steps
The findings will be used to identify trends and understand the effectiveness of the Environment Agency’s strategic decisions and tactical interventions. This will allow the Environment Agency to be more efficient and effective in eliminating waste crime.
We intend to repeat the survey every 1-2 years in order to establish a long term, independent baseline of waste crime activity. The next National Waste Crime Survey is due to run in 2023.
1.5 Publishing details
This summary relates to information reported in detail in the following output:
- Report: National waste crime survey report 2021 – Findings and analysis
- Project manager: Danielle Morrissey, Chief Scientist’s Group
This project was managed by the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group. It provides scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to enable us to protect and manage the environment as effectively as possible.
Enquiries: research@environment-agency.gov.uk
© Environment Agency