Work in Progress - Waste Crime

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) is primarily responsible for the regulation of waste processing and disposal, and for the enforcement of these regulations in Northern Ireland. Since the 1990s, a number of independent reports have been published which were critical of waste regulation in Northern Ireland. 

Waste crime largely falls into two main categories:

Illegal dumping: 

• By criminals; and 
• By legitimate businesses operating outside the terms of their licence, permit or exemptions. 

Mis-classification of waste:

• To avoid higher disposal fees; and 
• To export potentially hazardous material under the guise of inert waste to hide the true nature of the waste.

Those who dispose of waste illegally avoid paying tax and can leave large scale clean-up costs that have to be met by the public purse. It has been estimated that the annual cost of waste crime in the UK is more than £800 million. 

The study will consider:

• the amount of waste that is illegally dumped each year in Northern Ireland and the resulting costs to the public sector;
• attitudes to waste crime;
• the work NIEA does to combat waste crime; and
• NIEA’s enforcement procedures and their effectiveness in reducing waste crime.

We aim to publish the finalised report in December 2024.