Waste no money - reducing opportunities for illicit waste dumping

Abstract

Illicit waste dumping is a growing concern for Finnish authorities and also internationally. In this study the call for a more detailed analysis of waste crime was answered by identifying criminal opportunities for waste crime. The study also aimed at providing environmental law enforcement officials with suggestions for waste crime prevention. The theory of situational crime prevention and crime script analysis was applied to two cases of illicit waste dumping. The findings suggest that criminal opportunities are found on several levels. Subsequently, situational crime prevention activities around waste transportation, treatment and disposal are suggested. The study also extended the crime script analysis of waste crime by adding a possibility to gain economic benefit to the charting of the crime commission process. It can be assumed that economic benefit is one of the key motivations for waste crime – the opportunity to make money with illicit activity. By recognizing economic benefit as part of the crime script, crime prevention could be directed also to instruments that complicate and decrease possibilities for gaining profit illicitly. Therefore, it would be possible to reduce criminal opportunities and increase the possibility of getting caught.