SCYCLE

Stronger Training and Increased Knowledge for Better Enforcement (STrIKE) – Waste & Mercury On February 18, 2020, representatives from the Limerick University (project coordinator) and UNU/UNITAR-SCYCLE (scientific advisor) attended the kick-off meeting for projects funded by the ISF Police and Justice programme, held in Brussels at the European Commission premises.
The morning session was dedicated to define the current state of security issues at EC level, as well as to discuss project management and administrative issues. In the afternoon, participants attended thematic sessions relevant to the different areas of work, including environmental crime, drug, firearms trafficking, and cross-border cooperation and radicalization.
The meeting was a unique occasion to meet with representatives of DG HOME and DG ENVIRONMENT, as well as with stakeholders from other projects aimed at combatting environmental crimes, to plan future activities and create synergies among projects.
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The STrIKE project seeks to enhance understanding and analysis, develop new forensics tools and methodologies in support of the operational activities, and increase capacities of the practitioners involved in the detection, investigation, and prosecution of waste-related crime, with particular focus on problematic waste streams (e-waste, ELV, batteries ,and other waste mercury)- and illegal trade of mercury-added products.
Because illegal management and trade of waste and mercury-added products are mainly transboundary issues, the project will look at improving enforcement practices and experience-sharing among European authorities and between European authorities and their counterparts in Central Europe/Balkan region and selected African countries, among the main destinations or transit areas of illegal waste and shipments of illicit products containing chemicals.
The project will be implemented by a consortium of four partners, including the University of Limerick, UNITAR, the German Police University, and the Netherlands Forensic Institute, as well as six associate partners, including the Dublin City Council, the German Customs Authority, the District of Lower Bavaria, the Basel Convention Regional Centre in Slovakia, the African Institute, and the Waste Management Department of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning of Macedonia.
The project will build upon the outcomes and legacy of previous and ongoing projects related to waste crime. In particular, it will take into full account the results, recommendations and outputs of the DOTCOM Waste project (https://dotcomproject.eu/), and the WasteForce project (www.wasteforceproject.eu).