Combatting waste crime

Interconnections to other crimes
In addition to this, environmental crime is interconnected with other types of crime including corruption, tax evasion and money laundering while -due to its ‘high profit-low risk’ nature- is highly attractive for Organized Crime Groups (OCGs) especially in the field of illegal trafficking in waste . Indicatively, according to the 2016 Assessment on environmental crime released by Interpol and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) reports that the annual losses for the illegal trade and dumping of hazardous waste range between 10 and 12 billion dollars, whereas those for illegal logging and trade are worth between 50.7 and 152 billion dollars. With regard to the ‘low risk’ characteristic of environmental crimes and, in general, the difficulties in combatting with waste crime, there are various reasons, such as the lack of priority of environmental crimes at the national and international level, the low penalties, the short limitation periods, the limited investigative measures available, the impossibility to resort to the instruments of mutual recognition, the technical complexity of the legislation, difficulties in gathering evidence and the unsatisfactory cooperation at the national and international level among the various actors involved .

‘White Collar’ crime
Moreover, it is essential to examine waste crime through the lens of ‘white collar’ crime, which can be defined as ‘an illegal act or series of illegal acts committed by nonphysical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money or property, to avoid the payment or loss of money, or to obtain business or personal advantage’. According to the theory, four are the main characteristics of white-collar crime in the context of waste:

• The criminal has special access to the victim or/and target meaning that the criminals are able to access the waste stream and engage with the movement of waste
• The criminal uses deception or concealment to hide the offence, such as the case where WEEEs are disguised as second-hand goods and sent to developing countries
• The criminal could claim to be in an ambiguous state of mind due to the use of formal documentation and the legitimate operation of a business
• The criminal can be physical distant or separate from the offence (i.e. illegal shipment of waste)

Modus Operandi
Waste crime is diverse as regards its modus operandi. It involves corporations who pollute more than their license allows for. It includes sub-standard treatment of waste. Sometimes criminal organizations are involved when they illegally trade or dump waste. They falsify documents and abuse legal commercial structures. Sometimes waste crimes also involves governments who fail to (effectively) regulate environmental issues . More detailed information on the modus operandi used in different types of waste crimes and offences will provided on the relevant subsection.