Recommendation 20

It is widely believed across the waste sector that there has been a steady rise in the involvement of organised crime groups over recent years.69 We heard from the Agency and HMRC of the challenges involved in taking such criminals to court, and how they can afford good legal teams.70 Criminal prosecutions require higher evidential standards than 61 Qq 23, 24 62 Q 48; GWC0004 (NFU England and Wales) 63 Q 47; GWC0007 (Suez Recycling and Recovery UK) 64 GWC0003 (Environmental Services Association) 65 Qq 49–50 66 Qq 65, 69–72 67 Qq 65, 68 68 Qq 69, 73 69 C&AG’s Report, para 14 70 Qq 46, 60, 65 16 Government actions to combat waste crime civil cases, and therefore investigations are more complex and difficult, compounded by the exponential growth in data from mobile phones and laptops that need to be examined as potential evidence.71