Stronger TRaining and Increased Knowledge for better Enforcement (STrIKE) Waste & Mercury aimed to further enhance operational activities & capacities of authorities involved in addressing illegal trade & management of problematic waste streams (e.g. e-waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries & waste mercury), as well as illegal production & trade of mercury-added products (MAPs). Objectives were achieved through:

•            enhanced knowledge & understanding of the risks & threats;

•            advancement of practical tools & methods;

•            tailored multi-stakeholder capacity building.

Specifically, STRIKE provided beneficiaries with strategic information & guidelines, new & refined forensic tools & methodologies to detect illegal trade & management of problematic waste streams & MAPs. STRIKE will provide 4 multi-disciplinary trainings & additional webinars to enhance beneficiaries understanding & capacities.

Considering the transnational routes of illegal trade in waste & MAPs, the project facilitates increased cooperation between European authorities & counterparts in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE), the Balkan region, with selected African countries. This will be facilitated through the active involvement of partners with solid practitioners’ networks in these regions.

Direct beneficiaries are practitioners involved in the fight against waste crime & in illegal trade of MAPs across the enforcement chain, along the CEE, Balkans and EU-Africa routes. Police, customs, environmental authorities and prosecutors will directly benefit from the new methodologies and tools, and training materials produced. Cooperation and information sharing will also be reinforced through joint capacity building activities.

In the short term, selected practitioners across the enforcement chain will benefit from forensic tools, methodologies, and training (approx. 120 persons in the trainings and 300 in the webinars). In the medium-long term, tools and methodologies will be widely disseminated across EU Authorities, CEE, Balkans & Africa to support their daily actions.