We all send our recycling somewhere for proper handling, but the operation of one such handling center in Poland makes one ask, is it being done right, or at all?

The European Commission estimates that the illegal handling of such waste represents around 15-30% of the total EU waste trade, generating EUR 9.5 billion in annual revenues.

So in part 3 of our investigative podcast series, the team dispatches Outriders journalist Eva Dunal to visit one such recycling facility in the pretty town of Zielona Góra close to the Polish-German border, and finds out just how unpopular it is with the neighbors, and especially the city council. They also speak with Jim Puckett, the ‘James Bond of waste trafficking’ at Basel Action Network, who reveals that much recycling is being ‘laundered’ via the Netherlands and shipped on to countries where such resources are often dumped, not recycled.

This episode is called “The Wastelands,” and is the third and final installment of the podcast series, “Into the Wasteland,” developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu.

This “true eco-crime” series is produced by investigative environmental journalists Lucy Taylor and Dan Ashby, who trace the U.K.’s illegal “waste trail” from their quiet English town to the nearby countryside, and as far away as Poland and Malaysia.

In episode two, the team details how 20% of the U.K.’s waste is handled in this illegal manner, and how the government seems powerless to stop it: that’s one in five waste disposal companies operating like criminal enterprises.

If you enjoy this series, subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify. You can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain fingertip access to new shows and all our previous episodes.

Find more of Taylor and Ashby’s work at their website and follow them on Twitter for updates via @lucytaylor and @danielashby.

Banner image: The shuttered Eurokey recycling plant in the town of Zielona Góra. Image by Eva Dunal/Outriders.

See episode one, here:

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/podcast-true-eco-crime-in-england-into-the-wasteland-part-1/