Although the volume of waste in Latvijas valsts meži is not decreasing significantly, the perpetrators responsible for polluting the forest are increasingly being identified and held accountable. With the involvement of Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) staff, three individuals have been held liable for illegally dumping household waste and construction debris in a forest block within the Grīņi forest district of the LVM North Kurzeme region. Each individual was issued an administrative fine of 250 euros for violating waste management regulations.
In August 2023, the pollution of state forest land with household waste and construction debris—which included documents containing personal data—was discovered in the LVM North Kurzeme region’s Grīņi district. The State Police were called to the scene.
As the State Police were unable to locate the suspected perpetrators, the matter of initiating further administrative proceedings was referred to the North Kurzeme Forestry Division of the State Forest Service based on the personal data discovered, who then passed the decision-making process on to LVM.
“To identify the individuals responsible for the illegal dumping in the forest, we decided to approach the State Police again by sending them the case files. We also involved our own Security and Control Department staff to help identify the culprits. As a result of this successful collaboration, we gathered evidence, identified the suspected individuals, and passed this information to the State Police,” explains Lauris Ķemlers, Forest Management Manager of the LVM North Kurzeme region.
The State Police initiated administrative offence proceedings against three individuals under Section 43, Paragraph two of the Waste Management Law for violating waste management regulations, an offence that carries a fine of between 70 and 1000 euros.
Once the necessary evidence for the administrative offence cases had been gathered, the case files were forwarded to the State Environmental Service in accordance with legal jurisdiction to decide on holding the individuals accountable.
“We remained actively engaged in monitoring the actions of law enforcement agencies and expressed our position regarding holding the individuals to account. When the penalties were being determined, we requested that the circumstances outlined in the case be taken into consideration and that a fine be set that would protect public order and deter both these individuals and others from violating waste management regulations,” notes LVM legal counsel Kristīne Balode.