Reducing Vulnerabilities to Crime of the European Waste Management Industry: the Research Base and the Prospects for Policy

Studies of environmental crime suggest that its causes fall into three broad groups, concerning the high costs of legal waste management, aspects of the international context, and some effects of or inadequacies in regulation. This paper reviews the literature and then introduces and applies a method to look in greater depth at vulnerabilities that the waste management business offers for crime. It suggests that some current and quite contingent developments open up prospects for higher standards and for a reduction in irregularities and illegalities in waste management.