Waste crime costs the UK £604 million per year. Credit: BPF

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has launched an online form where members can anonymously report any suspect waste-related illegal misconduct to the Environment Agency Intelligence Team.

The BPF, which has over 400 members and 1200 affiliates, has set up a form on its website where members are able to report waste crimes, such as the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) fraud to the Environment Agency.

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People who are not members of the trade association will also be able to file their reports via the British charity Crime Stoppers.

The information received from members’ reports will be processed anonymously and passed to the Environment Agency for investigation.

Chairman of the BPF Recycling Group Roger Baynham said: “One of our key objectives is to promote resource efficiency and the environmentally responsible management of plastic waste. Helping to tackle unscrupulous practices through an anonymous reporting system is a clear step in the right direction and we hope this initiative will significantly reduce waste crime in the UK.”

A recent report by the Environmental Services Association Education Trust (ESAET) and the Environmental Services Associates revealed that waste crime costs about £604 million every year.

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The Environment Agency also uncovered over 850 illegal dumping grounds during the past year while councils dealt with more than one million incidents of fly-tipping in England alone between 2016 and 2017.

This has an inevitable impact both on tax payers and the industry, as local authorities have now started imposing on-the-spot fines for fly tipping, which are thought to be estimated at £750,000 per year, and pursuing prosecutions for ‘waste owners’ who dump their waste illegally.

As a result, the British government is coming up with new measures to fight fly-tippers and is planning to give Councils the power to directly fine those caught using unlicensed waste carriers.