Waste Mafia

The word ‘mafia’ is derived from the Sicilian adjective mafiusu, meaning swagger. While some definitions define mafia as an international criminal organization of Sicilian origin, other definition defines it as an organized crime group operating internationally organized crime. Environmental crime is one among the gainful forms of criminal activity. Over the years, regulators, law enforcement officials as well as lawmakers have taken a targeting aim at dealing with organized crime in some countries while in other countries, these groups flourish as governments have either neglected the crimes or are part of the crime. Garbage mobsters in some countries have been prosecuted and jailed beside their waste-hauling cartels have been dismantled, as well as special licensing requirements have been established to prevent convicted criminal and other deceitful individuals from systematically infiltrating in addition to weakening the health as well as quality of life of the citizens. Illegal waste activities that include illegal management and trafficking may occur domestically and internationally. Organized crime controls the solid waste management (SWM) in many parts of the world. Illegal collection transportation and trafficking of solid waste would result in law-and-order problems across the globe due to social-economic problems besides environment and health-related issues. This chapter will discuss the environmental crimes related to SWM.