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<p>Last year, the Environment Agency issued 158 stop notices prohibiting the export
of unsuitable waste. It stopped 367 containers of waste destined for illegal export
at ports and intervened upstream to prevent 8,974 tonnes of waste from reaching our
ports. Any UK operators found to be illegally exporting waste can face severe sanctions
– from financial penalties up to imprisonment.</p><p> </p><p>In the Resources and
Waste Strategy, published in December last year, we stated that we are exploring ways
to further address the illegal shipment of waste, for example through increased monitoring
of international waste shipments and the introduction of a system for exporters to
cover costs of waste repatriation where needed.</p><p> </p><p>It is illegal to dispose
of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human
health. This includes both fly-tipping and the burning of waste. We have given the
Environment Agency an extra £60 million to tackle waste crime since 2014.</p><p> </p><p>In
January we gave local authorities the power to issue fixed penalties to householders
who fail in their duty of care and give waste to fly-tippers. This built on powers
given in 2016 to hand out financial penalties to fly-tippers themselves, and in 2015
to strengthen local authorities’ ability to search and seize the vehicles of suspected
fly-tippers. The latest figures show no increase in the number of incidents dealt
with by local authorities for the first time in five years during 2017/18.</p><p>
</p><p>The Resources and Waste Strategy also contains commitments to reform the existing
exemptions regime to prevent the use of exemptions in hiding illegal activity, such
as misuse of the D7 exemption for burning waste in the open, to toughen penalties
for waste criminals and to create a Joint Unit for Waste Crime which will coordinate
a multi-agency response to the most serious cases.</p>
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