On 20th November 2018 Katie Olley, project leader of the SWEAP project, attended the operational debriefing on Operation Demeter IV in Shanghai to present IMPEL’s work on tackling illegal shipments of waste and the Shipments of Waste Enforcement Actions Project. The event was hosted by China Customs and was attended by delegates from around the world. Operation Demeter IV was a successful operation in summer 2018 involving Customs authorities, working in partnership with other regulators, to help enforce the Basel Convention. Europe’s recent efforts on detecting and disrupting illegal shipments were well received, and further work was planned during the event on future operations.
Katie provided training at the Shanghai Customs College on 21st November to customs officers and hosted a workshop on behalf of the World Customs Organization on how Customs can increase their efforts in detecting illegal waste shipments and work smarter with environmental authorities. The workshops were very participatory with excellent input. The ideas generated will be used by WCO and IMPEL to integrate waste shipments regulation into Customs’ authorities work.