Illegal waste carriers are looking to be reduced, from the combined effort of the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Environment Agency, all over England. After signing a Memorandum of Understanding earlier this month, both agencies hope this new agreement will punish non-compliant drivers and their vehicles. The agencies will share information with each other, to improve vehicle and driver safety standards and make roadside enforcement on waste carriers more coordinated. Both companies' combined enforcement powers, will ensure companies are performing in a legal manner, and challenge waste being moved to poorly-performing allowed or illegal sites. For the first time, tackling waste crime will be more efficient as both organisations will be using prevention tactics and intervening earlier in the waste chain.
Speaking to both agencies' staff when they had signed the agreement in London, Sir James Bevan (the Environment Agency's Chief Executive) stated that one of the main aims of the agreement is to protect people and their communities from how much influence waste and vehicle crime can have on them. DVSA's Chief Executive, Gareth Llewellyn, hopes this new intelligence-sharing initiative will help to meet DVSA's goal (i.e. to protect the public from unsafe drivers and their vehicles) as they will be able to work with rule-breakers more effectively.
With waste crime costing businesses and taxpayers £1 billion per annum, unsafe operators should be reported to the DVSA to reduce this figure. From April 2015-March 2016, the Environment Agency spent nearly £15 million ending illegal waste activity. From 1 April 2018, rogue operators illegally carrying waste must pay landfill tax. The DVSA's traffic examiners will soon begin physically inspecting waste carriers; issuing fines to those operating unsafely and hence presenting a danger to the environment. If a company buys, sells, transports or disposes of waste, they must register as a waste carrier and obtain a licence in order to comply with the law. If not, they could be fined up to £5,000. DVSA advised that companies using a waste carrier must check they are a registered waste carrier, and prohibit their waste carrier from illegally disposing of their waste, in order to avoid a substantial fine.
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