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Waste: Crime

Asked by Iqbal MohamedIndependentDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 18 July 2025UIN 66796

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of waste crime and illegal waste exports on the economy in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mary Creagh

The Environmental Services Association (ESA) estimated in 2021 that waste crime costs the economy in England about £1 billion per year. The ESA estimate that of that cost illegal waste exports amount to at least £42 million per year. (see here: ESA_Cost_of_Waste_Crime.pdf.)

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