Environment A Waste Journey Beyond the Darkness - The Realities of Environmental Crime in Europe in the 2000s

Environment A Waste Journey Beyond the Darkness - The Realities of Environmental Crime in Europe in the 2000s

In the 2000s, the export of waste from developed countries to developing countries became an international environmental crime of intense interest. As municipal and industrial waste increased, e-waste and hazardous waste flowed to Asian and African countries under the guise of "recycling" to avoid strict disposal standards and high costs in developed countries. The mountains of electronic equipment piled up in the ports of Ghana and Nigeria shocked the world as a symbol of this trend. The Basel Convention existed as an international framework to combat this, but its effectiveness was inadequate because monitoring and penalties were left to individual countries, and illegal exports continued unabated.

Under these circumstances, the German Federal Cabinet approved an amendment to the Waste Transport Act in 2007, increasing the fine for illegal exports from 50,000 to 100,000 euros and strengthening the monitoring authority of state authorities. It also made monitoring of waste transport by truck, ship, and rail mandatory, and established a mechanism to detect waste at the border crossing stage. This was a national legislation based on the EU Waste Transport Regulation, which came into effect the same year, and was positioned within the trend of environmental crime prevention measures spreading throughout Europe.

At the same time, related technologies were introduced. In place of conventional paper-based manifests, an electronic manifest system using barcodes and IC tags was established, and container scanners and radiation detectors were utilized at ports. The attempt to make the "invisible flow" of waste visible and traceable was not merely an introduction of technology, but an experiment in containing environmental crime itself. The International Criminal Police Organization (IGP) also supported this movement, recognizing environmental crimes as a serious international crime along with narcotics, arms, and human trafficking, and expanding its investigative network.

Thus, the strengthening of waste transport regulations promoted in Europe in the 2000s was not merely a reform of national laws, but a pioneering effort to deter international environmental crimes. The move to illuminate the darkness of the borders crossed by waste through both regulation and technology became a benchmark for later international environmental measures.