Last year when I shifted to the UK, I was pleasantly surprised by proper waste segregation bins placed at every nook and corner and UK's strict policy to dispose waste. But policies and laws alone are not enough if entire public is not abiding by them and are not conscious about the environment.

As we were setting our home, we bought lot of furniture and appliances -all packed in carboards and cartons. After assembling and placing those items, we were left with lots and lots of empty cardboard boxes, cartons, polyethene wraps and similar packing material. Obviously, we wanted to put them for recycling but recycling bins placed around the residential areas are small to accommodate such volume. I inquired from Birmingham City Council (local municipality) about the ways to dispose these off for recycling. I came to know the following law/policy for waste disposal:
1.      You can't simply throw waste or recyclable in open place.
2.      If it fits in the recycling bins, it will be picked up by waste collection trucks.
3.      If it doesn't fit in one of the recycling bins, you have to fix up collection service with City Council and you will be charged for that based on the number and kg of the cartons/recyclable you have. (This was opposite to what I am used while living in Dubai. In Dubai, if you give some recyclable, you get paid with vouchers or points etc which are redeemable later).
4.      Alternatively, you can take this to HRC (Household Recycling Centres) or Recycling banks nearby. But for that you have to either have your own van or hire one.
 
As we were new, din't have our vehicle nor did we want to spend on hiring one, we were wondering how to dispose it off economically for recycling. We came to know that there are people who charge you a small amount and pick this stuff from your home. This sounded feasible but I, being an eco-conscious person, wanted to know where would they dispose this off after picking from our place. I understood that most likely they just throw it in open tills outside the city. Obviously, I dint like this idea. We finally dealt with furniture supplier IKEA who is also very very environmentally conscious supplier and paid them to take away the stuff and drop it at one of the recycling centres or municipality. But not everyone takes this approach. People go for cheaper option even though it harms the environment.
 
Disposing the waste in open, unauthorised places is called WASTE CRIME and waste criminals are severly punished. I would like to throw some light on the waste crime in the UK and efforts taken by the government and environment agencies to eliminate this.  

 

Waste Crime Costs Land Owners in North East England £750k in One Year

Criminals who illegally dump thousands of tonnes of baled waste have cost land and property owners in the North East of England an estimated £750,000 in the last year, according to the Environment Agency. Waste criminals operate throughout the country, offering to remove waste cheaply and then dumping it in fields or empty warehouses. They tend to move to new areas as enforcement agencies become wise to their activities.
In a bid to stop waste criminals in their tracks, the Environment Agency (EA) is reaching out to property and land owners, commercial property agents, trade associations and local authorities. Their aim is to warn of the dangers posed by waste criminals and advise them, their clients and their members how they can better protect themselves. Waste criminals are not welcome here and EA are doing everything to deter and catch them. They work closely with partners to share intelligence on illegal waste activity. And they're encouraging everyone to do their bit: for property and land owners to be vigilant and better protect themselves and for all businesses, organisations and individuals to manage their waste responsibly, preventing it from getting into criminal hands in the first place. 
The Environment Agency is also advising businesses and organisations of their responsibility to ensure their waste is managed appropriately. Anyone who produces, stores and manages waste is obligated to ensure waste does not cause harm to human health or pollution to the environment under waste under Duty of Care legislation. 
Waste crime diverts as much as £1 billion per annum from legitimate business and the treasury. Since April 2011 the Environment Agency has invested £65.2 million nationally to address it. Its specialist crime unit uses intelligence to track and prosecute organised crime gangs involved in illegal waste activity and to ensure any necessary action is taken against them. 
The waste and recycling industry in England, along with the tax payer, is losing some £604 million per year due to waste crime such as illegal dumping, according to a new report commissioned by the Environmental Services Association Educational Trust (ESAET) and the Environmental Services Association (ESA). 
Supported by the 'Right Waste Right Place'campaign, and written by environmental consultancy Eunomia, the report claimed that the growing cost of waste crime is now equivalent to building 34 new secondary schools.

Year Long Campaign to Tackle Waste Crime Backed by CIWM & ESA

On Jan 2016, a coordinated 12 month campaign was launched by the UK's Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (CIWM) to tackle the financial and environmental cost of waste crime. The institute said that it will contribute almost £50,000 to the initiative, which is designed to raise awareness of Duty of Care among businesses. The funds will be matched by a similar figure from the Environmental Services Association Education Trust (ESAET).
The funds are intended to support the delivery of the second phase of the Right Waste, Right Place campaign.

 "The Right Waste, Right Place" campaign also complements other initiatives being rolled out, including efforts to remind the general public of their responsibilities as part of its ongoing crackdown on 'waste cowboys'.

 Waste criminals are jailed and penalised for life.  Anyone with information about suspected illegal waste operators is asked to call Crimestoppers at a toll free number.

UK Environment Agency Cracks Down on Illegal Waste Exports 

The UK's Environment Agency has recently carried out an intelligence gathering operation at Harwich International Port in Essex in a bid to crack down on the illegal export of waste.

Specialist enforcement officers stopped and checked 30 HGVs carrying waste to identify any materials being unlawfully exported to Europe. As part of the operation, drivers were asked to produce supporting documents and waste loads were examined.  The sheer volume of material that officers found and prevented from being exported illegally is a big win.

In sending a strong message that UK will track down those involved in illegal waste activity. Authorities intend to continue their inspections of waste at ports across the country to ensure waste being exported is done so legally and environmentally friendly manner.

Exporting waste illegally is harmful to the environment and the economy. It undercuts legitimate businesses, harms human health and the environment in destination countries.

Waste crime is a serious issue diverting as much as £1billion per annum from  legitimate business and the Treasury. Since April 2011, the Environment Agency has invested £65.2million in tackling it. 

UK  Parliament has set an example by sending its On-Site Food Waste to Anaerobic Digestion. 

The Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) has welcomed the representative for the House of Commons Commission, MP's response to a recent Parliamentary Question about Parliament's own food waste disposal strategy. The nation is welcoming the House of Commons' efforts to send its own on-site food waste from canteens to anaerobic digestion (AD). 

All catering food waste segregated at the kitchens and food preparation areas is recovered offsite by means of anaerobic digestion to produce methane fuel and fertiliser. No catering waste from Parliament is sent to landfill, and no uneaten food is donated to food aid providers. 

 Parliament staff are continuing to identify opportunities to reduce the amount of food waste and to increase the proportion they do generate that goes for recovery. A food waste audit to support this is due to take place later this month in the House of Commons.

 According to ADBA, if the UK's waste strategy followed the example of Parliament and all inedible food waste was diverted from landfill and incineration to AD, then the industry could generate enough additional indigenous green gas to power 750,000 homes.

In addition to the production of renewable gas, nutrient-rich biofertiliser produced during the AD process improves food production and soil quality, reversing soil degradation trends that are estimated to cost the UK about £1.4 billion each year. AD also has a vital role in decarbonising electricity, heat, farming and transport, potentially reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions by 4%.

If segregating food waste for AD is right for Parliament, then surely the same principle should apply for the rest of the UK.  The Parliament has set a right example.

Space Surveillance Spy Firm Launches Service to Identify Waste Crime

A service which uses 'spy in the sky' satellite technologies to detect waste crime is being launched by UK firm Air & Space Evidence - the 'world's first space detective agency'.

In England alone more than 1000 illegal waste sites are said to spring up each year. One single site discovered in Northern Ireland is believed to contain 1.5 million tonnes of illegally deposited waste – which is significantly more municipal waste than the whole of Northern Ireland produces in a year (i.e. 969,157 tonnes in 2015-2016).

How it Works
Modern satellites can see objects as small as manhole covers, at nearly any location on Earth at nearly any time and its analysts can look back into the past using specialist data archives. It can then undertake pro-active intelligence gathering, identifying operational unlawful sites using tasked satellite data and analysis algorithms. Enabling successful early interventions (whilst problems are manageable) will catch criminals and enable governments to drastically reduce operational costs and environmental hazards.

To tackle this the firm combined a variety of techniques from both radar and optical satellite sensors, aided by mapping data, to discriminate standard land use types, concentrating on anomalies. It said that in taking this approach it effectively focused on finding the needle by eliminating the haystack.

The technique it developed discards the vast majority of items in the search area and allows analysts to isolate a realistic number of suspicious areas for further close-up satellite investigation. In the product trials 71% of sites identified as potential illegal waste sites were proved to be so.

Waste crime can cause environmental damage to surrounding land, air and water, and poses a risk to human and animal health. Living near an unlawful waste site can also ruin people's lives. This technology is aimed to significantly reduce the scale of the waste crime problem.

The UK is committed to reducing waste and reaching a targeted milestone of being a 'Zero waste country' by achieving the higher levels of recycling envisaged in the European Commission's Circular Economy Package.

 

  

Sources:

https://waste-management-world.com/a/waste-crime-costs-land-owners-in-north-east-england-750k-in-one-year

https://waste-management-world.com/a/esa-report-604m-cost-of-waste-crime-in-england