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<p>HM Government is committed to tackling waste crime and we are preparing significant
reforms to continue to increase the pressure on illegal waste operators.</p><p> </p><p>Our
planned electronic waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to misidentify
waste or dispose of it inappropriately. Planned changes to the Carriers, Brokers and
Dealers licensing regime will modernise licensing and make it harder still for rogue
operators to escape detection. We have also consulted on reforming waste exemptions
which are often used to hide criminal activity, and will publish our response later
this year.</p><p> </p><p>These will come in addition to measures in the Environment
Act 2021 which gives agencies stronger powers of entry and access to evidence in prosecuting
waste crime, and existing powers we have already given the regulator in recent years
to tackle illegal waste sites, including the ability to lock sites and to force rogue
operators to clean up all their waste</p><p> </p><p>As per our commitment in our landmark Resources
& Waste Strategy, the Joint Unit for Waste Crime has been set up to disrupt serious
and organised waste crime and reduce its impact on the economy, the environment and
local communities. Through shared intelligence and enforcement, the Joint Unit is
identifying, disrupting and deterring criminals and making them pay for the damage
they have done to communities and the environment. In the two years since the Joint
Unit for Waste Crime launched it has worked with over 50 partner organisations and
engaged in 74 multi-agency days of action, which have resulted in 52 associated arrests
by other agencies.</p>
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