Waste Management and Crime - Regulatory, Business and Product Vulnerabilities

Download or read book Waste Management and Crime - Regulatory, Business and Product Vulnerabilities written by Stijn Van Daele and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Criminal behaviour always takes place within a context. The project MAVUS, which stands for Method for Assessment of Vulnerability of Sectors, deploys a method to measure the vulnerability of economic sectors to organised crime. MAVUS observes contexts, scanning for vulnerabilities (context-specific opportunities that might be exploited by some and could lead to crime or irregularities).From such a vantage point, it may sometimes be possible to take action to close off loopholes and reduce crime in the corporate context - an aspect of good governance that is appreciated by at least the larger waste management firms. In a study conducted at Gent University in Belgium and funded by the European Commission in 2006, this method was applied to municipal and bulk waste management processes, hazardous waste management, and nuclear waste management. In applying the MAVUS system, information gathering takes place at three levels. First, the sector and its markets are described. Second, the broader environment - the various contexts of the sector - are pictured. These contexts include the regulatory context, enforcement measures in place, the financial, legal and social environments of the business, and criminals around and within the industry. Third, an analysis is carried out at the level of waste management enterprises, resulting in a Reference Model, distilling out common features. By describing these three levels - sector, environment and business structures and processes - the stage is set for the identification of vulnerabilities that may open up the sector to organised crime. Why is such a method interesting? First, it takes into account the economic reality, both on a broad and a narrow level, in which crimes takes place. It pays attention to the causes of crime within the context of legitimate economic structures and activities. Second, as it does not rely on official crime data, it does not import or reproduce the blind spots of those data. Third, it does not focus solely on the past, but considers current trends within the context, in order to anticipate so far unrecognised and unreported crime risks.