Waste Crime - Waste Risks: Gaps in Meeting the Global Waste Challenge

detected for shipments to developing countries. The major waste streams involved in transport violations were mixed municipal waste (20 per cent), wood (15.2 per cent), paper and cardboard (12.9 per cent), plastics (9.9 per cent), metals (9.5 per cent), and waste electrical and electronic equipment (9.4 per cent). Further analysis of violations related to paper and plastics is needed to ascertain whether these violations are associated with the quality of the recyclates (IMPEL 2014). In 2010, a global joint operation with ten participatory countries, including the United States and Hong Kong, targeted illegal shipments of waste under the INECE Seaport Environmental Security Network and found that the illegal waste streams most often encountered during the event were: electronic waste (e-waste) falsely declared as second-hand goods; waste batteries falsely declared as plastic or mixed metal scrap; cathode ray tubes from tele- vision and computer monitors wrongly described as metal scrap; and refrigerators containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) (INECE 2010). The joint operation called Demeter III (World Customs Organ- ization 2014) was initiated by China Customs and organized by the World Customs Organization (WCO). It mainly targeted illicit maritime consignments of hazardous and other wastes

Conference of the Parties also established the Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic (ENFORCE). Its mission is, through a network of relevant experts, to promote the Parties’ compliance with the provisions of the Basel Convention pertaining to preventing and combating illegal traffic in hazardous wastes and other wastes through the better implementation and enforcement of national law (Basel Convention 2011). At the regional level, the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) has been running waste shipment inspection projects within the European region since 2003. The current project, Enforcement Actions, records inspections under- taken by competent authorities at ports, railhead, roads, and waste sites during three inspection periods each year, each lasting three days. The data collected provides a snapshot of inspection methods, the main waste streams involved in illegal waste shipments, and their intended destinations. The 2014 data from IMPEL shows that 70 per cent of illegal shipments detected in Europe were going to other European countries. Illegal shipments to Asia accounted for 20 per cent of the violations. China, including Hong Kong SAR, was the preferred destination for illegal shipments to non-OECD countries, accounting for almost 56 per cent of total violations

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