Part 3a of the
Global Analysis on Crimes that Affect the Environment focuses on
Waste Crime and Trafficking. Illegal waste disposal or trade can be lucrative when waste management and disposal services are offered at prices below the costs of following the processes and procedures required by law. This reduces the costs for those who need to dispose of waste, as well as for the disposal service providers who do not follow the law. This can take place domestically or transnationally and involve waste management companies, waste brokers, consignees, transport companies as part of corporate or organized crime. The five main waste categories by number of internationally recorded cases of waste trafficking under the Basel Convention between 2016 and 2023 are electrical and electronic waste (e-waste), mixed waste, end-of-life vehicles and engines, plastic, and metal and metal-bearing wastes. The data, both for transnational illegal trade and domestic waste crimes, are limited and geographically skewed meaning the overall picture of waste crime and trafficking is likely incomplete. However,
Part 3a provides a global state of knowledge on what is understood about the actors, modus operandi, vulnerabilities, supply chain, and responses to waste crime and trafficking.
Analysis of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal trade data in Part 3a Waste Crime and Trafficking found that most waste traffic that is reported is from Europe and that most of the illegal waste stays within Europe. By focusing on
Part 3c on Finland - a European country with a well-regulated waste management system - this Spotlight examines this intra-regional aspect. The nation-level modalities and impacts of waste crime are explored as well as the challenges of waste trafficking in order to develop improved prevention and disruption strategies.
