Since the start of the LIFE SWEAP Project in 2018, more than 77,000 inspections targeting movements of waste, have been performed. One of the aims of the SWEAP project is to conduct coordinated inspections on cross-border shipments of waste and to collect the inspection data for analysis.
Interim data provided by 32 countries between June 2018 and September 2023, reveal that almost half of the inspections performed concern a shipment of waste. Breaches of waste shipment regulations, ranging from administrative offences to violation of export bans, were identified for 6,344 of the 36,552 shipments of waste, a violation detection rate of 17%. The destination of the illegal waste shipments was mainly within Europe, followed by Asia and Africa respectively. Relatively few illegal exports were destined for the Americas. The waste streams with the highest numbers of violations were plastic waste, waste of electrical and electric equipment (WEEE), metal waste, end-of-life vehicles and carparts, and paper waste.
In terms of follow-up, repatriation of the waste to the county of dispatch occured in 22% of the cases, followed by a return to the original site in 14% of those cases where the waste was intercepted in the country of dispatch.
The SWEAP project will continue with coordinated inspections until the project end in 2024.
Operation NOXIA operation against dangerous substances
