Plastic Purloiners

Criminals often appear a little like viruses- wherever resources become evident (in this case, money associated with disposing of the 11 million tonnes of plastic packaging used in the UK per annum), they pile in to exploit it. There has recently been a drive in the UK to deal with such plastic waste (largely on the basis of seeing the detrimental effects of this long-lasting pollutant on emotive marine animals). It now appears that some of the UK companies that export plastic waste, have been playing fast and loose (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/18/uk-recycling-industry-under-investigation-for-and-corruption). It is alleged, in an Environmental Agency report, that plastic waste exporters (6 of whom have had licences suspended or cancelled in the last 3 months) have been claiming to export 35,000 more tonnes of plastic waste than the amount recorded by customs as leaving the country. The exporters generate perns (plastic waste recovery notes) on the basis of tonnage that are then cashed in by claiming cash (currently around £60 per tonne) from retailers and manufactures as 'their' contribution (although this is probably passed on to the consumers in higher prices) to dealing with the packaging problem. Consequently some perns appear to be counterfeit. In other cases, UK plastic waste, rather than being recycled, has been allowed to 'leak' into rivers and seas (totally at variance with what the public expected and paid for) or illegally exported to the Far East (to a largely unknown fate).