With waste crime continuing to rise, waste management company WCRS Ltd has put its support firmly behind efforts to spot and report an offence that is costing the UK economy over £560 million each year.

Waste crime takes many different forms, from builders fly-tipping rubble on country roads to illegal waste sites processing thousands of tonnes of waste and operators deliberately misclassifying waste to evade millions in tax. According to the EASET report ‘Waste Crime – Britain’s Dirty Secret’, it now costs £568 million per annum in clean up costs and lost tax revenues.

WCRS works hard to provide the best waste management solutions for businesses, particularly in the FM and retail sector, by increasing recycling rates and saving cost. As a major player in the industry, it is keen to promote advice from the Environmental Services Authority (ESA) on how to report waste crime wherever it is found in the UK.

“Waste crime is now sadly endemic in our country, and we all have a Duty of Care and responsibility to dispose of waste compliantly,” said Robert Logan, Managing Director of WCRS.

“It is important that facilities managers and businesses as a whole partner with a reliable, compliant and experienced waste management provider, fully committed to the circular economy, carrying the correct and appropriate licences and able to provide full traceability and compliance along every step of the process.”

Local authorities are cracking down heavily on waste crime, with on-the-spot fines for fly tipping (totalling around £750,000 in one year, in England alone) and by pursuing prosecutions for those ‘waste owners’ who allowed their waste to be dumped illegally.

“Tackling waste crime is a big challenge, which will take a joint effort from waste management companies, such as WCRS, raising standards, businesses managing their waste compliantly and by the general public remaining vigilant and reporting waste crime when they see it,” Robert concluded.

www.zestrecycle.co.uk/