LIFE SWEAP wastes no time preventing environmental crime

From wildlife smuggling to illegal waste dumping, environmental crime has fast become one of Europe’s biggest headaches. Data from the Council of the European Union shows police across Europe seized nearly 350,000 tonnes of illegal waste and approximately EUR 15 million in assets relating to environmental crime in 2022 alone 

LIFE SWEAP was set up in 2018 with the brief to strengthen training for law enforcement agencies tackling the illegal trade in waste across the EU. ‘Chemicals and waste such as pesticides, ozone depleting substances, plastic waste and electronic waste have grave impacts on our water, soil, atmospheric environments, and ultimately our health,’ says LIFE SWEAP’s Senior Communications and Networking Officer Nancy Isarin. ‘Strong and capable border enforcement authorities are key to preventing the negative impacts resulting from the illegal trade of these commodities.’ 

The six-year project is now coming into its final phase, with a closing conference in May at Europol in The Hague, the Netherlands. LIFE SWEAP has posted some impressive results, with more than 35,000 inspections of waste shipments being recorded through its ground-breaking trans-frontier shipments (TFS) inspection reference app, released in 2021. The app also means police in one country can send an alert to colleagues in the waste destination country. 

Other online tools developed by the project include an inspection data visualisation tool , a data recording app, and the PREVENT toolkit - developed by the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), which coordinates LIFE SWEAP. 

‘There is no doubt in my mind that illegal waste shipments remain a widespread and significant issue for Europe,’ says Chris Dijkens, former Chair of IMPEL. ‘Criminal waste shipments in particular have the potential to seriously harm the environment and human health in receiving countries. LIFE SWEAP is a unique opportunity to successfully prevent illegal waste shipment.’ 

Over its lifetime, LIFE SWEAP has provided relevant tools to a total of 45,000 inspections and trained 150 customs officers across 36 countries. Yet persistent challenges remain - Europol’s first ever conference on Waste and Pollution Crimes, held last year, reported an urgent need to add more partners in the fight against environmental crime and for more national focal points and specialised units.  

In his address to the conference delegates, Georgios Raskos, Head of Europol’s Organised Crime Unit, emphasised that despite progress, substantial challenges persist. These include the lack of international cooperation tools, lack of harmonisation of national legal frameworks, and above all, lack of national focal points and specialised units. LIFE SWEAP is working hard to ensure the TFS app will continue to be used after the project closes in June 2024, and how it can be developed to include other environmental crime such as illegal logging. 

As if to underline the growing threat, LIFE SWEAP was a key player in last year’s Operation Demeter, coordinated by the World Customs Organisation (WCO), which involved 106 customs administrations and which detected a record 338 illegal waste shipments including 70 tonnes of substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol and 31 tonnes of hazardous chemicals. The WCO reported that most of the seizures came from Europe and were destined for Europe, Asia and Africa. 

The project also works closely with the Green Customs Initiative (GCI) - a global organisation dedicated to strengthening the capacity of customs and border control officers fighting environmental crime - and recently launched the third and final industry survey to help ensure waste shipments are legally compliant. 

Another important milestone for LIFE SWEAP was achieved last November when the European Council and the European Parliament’s negotiators reached a provisional political agreement to update the regulation on shipments of waste, incorporating several suggestions provided by the project.  

LIFE SWEAP contributes to the EU Waste Framework Directive, the European Regulation on shipments of waste, and the Action plan for the Circular Economy, as well as more broadly to the European Green Deal and the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change.