Fight against waste crime as an engine for enhancing Circular Economy requirements under the EU Green Deal

Strengthening the protection of the environment through criminal law has been placed at the epicentre of the latest environmental policy developments taking into consideration that environmental crime is a growing concern causing significant damage to the environment, citizens’ health, and the economy. More specifically, waste crime constitutes a constantly expanding phenomenon which exploits the physical features of waste, the complexity of the collection and downstream infrastructure and the market opportunities for profit. To this end, both the EU Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan have explicitly recognized the review of the existing EU rules on waste shipments as a key lever for the transition to Circular Economy. In this context, the aim of this paper is firstly to briefly unpack the content as well as the key features of waste crime as ‘transnational, ‘organized’ and ‘white collar’ crime with a rather diverse modus operandi. Secondly, emphasis will be given to the EU legal framework relating to illegal treatment, disposal and movements of waste focusing on the Regulation (EC) No 1013/2013 on shipments of waste, the Regulation (EC) No 1257/2013 on Ship Recycling (SRR) as well as the relevant CJEU case law such as C-654/18 Interseroh, C-23/19 P.F. Kamstra Recycling and Others, C-642/17 Tronex, C-689/17 Conti 11. Container Schiffahrt, C-399/17 Commission v. Czech Republic. Finally, the spotlight will be put on a critical analysis of the recent proposals for revising the Environmental Crime Directive and the Waste Shipment Regulation through the lens of the Circular Economy requirements.