In a first for any government department in Northern Ireland, Environment Minister Alex Attwood has set up a partnership with Crimestoppers to crack down on waste crime.

Crimestoppers is a registered charity working with the police to enable the public to report crime anonymously.

Mr Attwood said: "Illegal waste is big business which threatens our environment, our health and our economy. Unscrupulous businesses are taking huge sums of money from all of us that could otherwise be used for schools, hospitals and roads.

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"Working with Crimestoppers will help us tackle the illegal dumping of waste materials, including hazardous chemicals, scrap metal and tyres, which harm the environment."

Encouraging the public to report environmental crime to Crimestoppers, Mr Attwood said: "Environmental criminals are undermining the legitimate waste industry, our way of life and our children's heritage, for a quick profit. Large scale dumping is polluting our land, our water and our air and DOE and I will do everything we can to stop it, and to make Northern Ireland a better place to live, work and invest."

The Minister emphasised that Crimestoppers is an anonymous service that does not take anyone’s details. He praised Crimestoppers’ proven track record and noted the successes it achieved in Britain in 2010/11: 8,264 criminals were arrested and charged, £25.3million of illegal drugs were seized and £3.1million of stolen goods were recovered as a result of the information it received.