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Environment Agency

Tackling the illegal export of e-waste

Ed Mitchell, Director of Environment & Business, Environment Agency

Around a million tones of electronic equipment is placed on the market in the UK every year as we all upgrade and replace our washing machines, TVs, computers, etc. A proportion of that of course becomes waste - and that is e-waste.

There’s been a lot of investment in facilities in this country to be able to recycle that e-waste, such that the whole quantity can now be recycled within the UK. The problem is that a proportion of that waste is being diverted by criminal activity away from those legitimate, safe, secure, environmentally responsible businesses and is being diverted abroad illegally.

Andy Higham, National Environmental Crime Team Leader, Environment Agency

If electrical waste is being disposed of illegally, in other words it’s smelted down and the plastics are burnt off to recover precious metals that maybe contained within computers and TVs, and so forth, it can cause quite considerable damage to the environment and, indeed, potentially to human health.

Ed Mitchell

The Environment Agency is working with 42 of its counterparts around the world through something called the Global Interpol E-Waste Crime Group. We share our intelligence with our counterparts in those other countries, and we are widely regarded as leaders in this field.

Andy Higham

The Environment Agency is doing an awful lot to tackle this type of criminality. Three years ago we set up a National Intelligence Team and we set up the National Crime Team. We’re targeting criminals who are illegally exporting waste. And we’re doing that through intelligence led enforcement.

Ed Mitchell

What this means for the future of e-waste export is that we will be chasing down the criminals who export e-waste illegally and we will be prosecuting them.  We have prosecuted four individuals already this year; six in the last three years. We’ve got 22 ongoing investigations, 12 of which are into e-waste and there are15 defendants in court at the moment in the biggest court case of this kind in the Crown Court.

The key thing is that all of us have a responsibility to make sure that our waste is disposed of or recycled properly.

If you’re a business or a local authority, there is a Duty of Care on you to make sure that you only hand on e-waste to an appropriate person.  One way of doing that is for businesses and local authorities to audit the contractors that they use. To actually physically go and check where the waste is going – look for themselves and make sure that it’s been done appropriately.

E-waste crime is a serious matter. The law is clear. Criminals are responsible. And we will actively chase down those criminals using the intelligence led approach. We’ve already demonstrated that we can successfully prosecute them.

We’re tackling this head-on and we will continue to do so. Environment Agency.