Written Question·Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs·UIN 66796
Waste: Crime
Tabled: 10 July 2025
Answered: 18 July 2025
Question
Iqbal Mohamed
Independent — Dewsbury and Batley
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.
Answer
Mary CreaghThe 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.)