Mandatory waste tracking digital service: children’s rights impact assessment
A summary of the impact of a mandatory waste tracking service on the rights of children.
Efallai na fydd y ffeil hon yn gyfan gwbl hygyrch.
Ar y dudalen hon
Mae’r dudalen yma’n Saesneg. Darllenwch fwy am yr hyn sy’n rhaid i ni ei wneud i gydymffurfio gyda Safonau’r Gymraeg.
A. Children’s rights Impact Assessment
1. Policy objectives
1.1. The implementation of a Digital Waste Tracking Service (DWTS) will support a reduction in illegal waste activity, including fly tipping and the processing of hazardous waste materials in a non-compliant manner. Children and young people are often exposed to the impacts of environmental damage through seeing fly tipped material in the local environment (e.g. parks, public spaces) or being exposed to harmful emissions from illegally processed waste material. A DWTS will is expected to deliver an improvement in the recycling and processing of waste materials. Given the culture of recycling in Wales, enabling better and more identification of recyclable waste materials and making waste operations more compliant will support the ongoing education of children and young people in ensuring they are part of a circular economy.
1.2. Useful links on a DWTS’s relevance to children and young people are through:
- Air pollution and children (paragraph 2.1 below refers)
- Assessing the impact of hazardous waste on children's health (paragraph 2.1 below refers)
- Fly-tipping in Wales (paragraph 2.5 below refers)
- Helping the Environment - A Snapshot Survey of Children and Young People in Wales (paragraph 2.4 below refers)
- Talk Valleys Engagement Programme (paragraph 2.3 below refers).
2. Gathering evidence and engaging with children and young People
2.1. Hazardous materials can have a negative impact on children and young people if not managed correctly. This can arise through several avenues, including exposure to waste fires at recycling facilities (Assessing the impact of hazardous waste on children's health: The exposome paradigm - ScienceDirect) which is an issue becoming more prevalent due to the mismanagement of batteries and waste electricals. Proximity to emissions from waste reprocessing facilities, as well as exposure to odours, can be detrimental to a child’s health and wellbeing (Air pollution and children - Impact on Urban Health).
2.2. A DWTS should support the better management of waste, recycling and reusable materials by reducing emissions and environmental impacts through better classification processes of materials being received and reprocessed or reused.
2.3. In 2017, the Welsh Government commissioned a report into prosperity within the South Wales Valleys. One of the themes identified was the importance of the natural landscape, and living near well maintained parks and green spaces. Respondents noted that living near fly tipped and heavily littered areas often encourage children and young people to engage in behaviours that cause more damage. There was a call for more businesses in local areas to take greater responsibility for the waste they produce and how they contribute to the disamenity of a local area. A DWTS will support the identification of businesses who are engaging in illegal waste activities that may impact on natural landscapes, and may influence children and young people’s behaviours on littering and fly-tipping.
2.4. Children and young people often cite recycling and littering as key environmental issues. In the Children’s Commissioner for Wales’ survey in November 2024 , 56% of the children and young people surveyed cited litter picking as an activity schools and community groups are undertaking, with another 24% saying that they would like to do more recycling. 31% of respondents also said they would like to take part in a group that helped the environment. These results show the importance to children and young people of addressing some of the key challenges around the natural environment in Wales that a DWTS seeks to address.
2.5. A November 2025, a Senedd research briefing on fly-tipping in Wales highlighted how fly tipping harms communities and wildlife by spreading disease, polluting the environment and contaminating soil - while also increasing the risk of drainage problems and flooding. It also noted that the deterioration of local environmental quality caused by fly tipping can negatively affect people’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as contributing to higher levels of anti social behaviour, with these impacts often falling disproportionately on more deprived communities. These are all issues that can have a very real and detrimental impact on children and young people, and shows the importance of a DWTS in supporting resolutions to this issue.
2.6. Children and young people's views have not been sought due to the detailed and technical specifics of the DWTS (Introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking) .
3. Analysing the evidence and assessing the impact
3.1. Children and young people play a critical role in supporting Wales’ commitments to reach zero waste and net zero carbon emissions by 2050, as well as supporting our progress towards a more circular economy. These reforms are critical to tackling the climate and nature emergency which is not only key to improving the circularity of materials and the regulation of the waste industry but is also a vital component in the delivery of Wales’ commitments to reach zero waste and net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
3.2. A DWTS will enable the tracking of movements and transfers of waste through the economy so that we know more about the types and amounts of waste generated, who generates it, where and how this waste is treated, what the outputs of this are and where those outputs end up (Beyond Recycling) .
3.3. Through a DWTS we want to improve the coverage, quality, accuracy and timeliness of waste data – as well as making it more accessible and usable for businesses, regulators and government. We will use these data to help maximise the value we extract from our resources and to boost innovation and productivity whilst minimising damage to the environment, including by preventing and detecting waste crime.
3.4. A Rights of the Child Assessment has concluded that there is no identifiable conflict with United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and these proposals have no negative impacts on children and young people. These proposals will bring a positive action, intended to tackle illegal waste activity which harms the environment and threatens human health.
| UNCRC Articles or Optional Protocol | Enhances (X) | Challenges (X) | Explanation |
| Article 2 – non-discrimination – could this scheme have positive impacts on particular groups of children and young people? | X | Children and young people in areas where occurrences of fly tipping are high will see a benefit in an improved local environment, allowing them to play and be active, improving health and wellbeing. | |
| Article 3 – Best interests of the child. Overall, would your policy ensure that all decisions and actions taken are in the best interests of children and young people? | X | By addressing non-compliant waste operations, and allowing the targeting of operators who fly tip, the policy addresses some of the key issues for children who want to enjoy their local natural environment. | |
| Article 6 – right to life – would this enhance this through seeking to minimise the disposal of unsafe or hazardous waste? | X | Identifying waste materials at source and ensuring they are classified correctly through the value chain will help support the illegal processing of hazardous materials and their potential release into the natural environment, thereby lowering health impacts. | |
Article 12 - Children have the right to say what they think should happen, when adults are making decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions taken into account.
| X | The DWTS proposal is of a technical nature. The use of the system to replace existing paper-based waste returns, and to allow an improvement in compliance, requires a good level of understanding around waste regulations and associated paperwork. There would not be an expectation for children and young people to be able to understand the levels of complexity related to this subject matter. | |
| Article 24 - Children have the right to good quality health care and to clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that they will stay healthy. Rich countries should help poorer countries achieve this | X | The reforms will have societal benefits associated with children and young people living in a safer and cleaner environment, and environmental benefits associated with improved resource efficiency and reduced environmental damage. For example disposing of waste in a non-optimal manner (e.g. not recycling, disposing of hazardous waste unsafely and fly-tipping) will produce costs to society and the environment – including, carbon emissions, the release of harmful chemicals, the release of foul odours, pollution of surface or ground water, noise and dust from vehicle movements or on-site operations, or safety risks from fires. Enabling children and young people to have a reduction in exposure to these risks will allow greater levels of engagement with the natural environment in order to improve health and wellbeing. Being able to track timely data on waste movements to regulated sites would mean that interventions to prevent waste crime could be proactive, rather than reactive. | |
| Article 36 - Children should be protected from any activities that could harm their development. | X | The ability to effectively and efficiently track waste in Wales will improve the effectiveness of regulation and reduce poor management of waste, thereby reducing risk to human health and pollution to the environment. This is particularly important for the proper management of hazardous waste and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste. POPs are toxic, bio accumulative and long-ranging chemicals that do not break down in the environment. | |
| Article 42 – Governments should make the UNCRC convention known to parents – Is there is an opportunity to raise awareness of our commitment to children’s rights? | X | A DWTS is part of a series of policy reforms to enable Wales to transition to a circular economy. With the wellbeing of future generations a key part of policy development, children and young people’s rights are and will continue to be a key consideration in the future. |
4. Communicating with Children and Young People
4.1. The consultations that led to and informed these reforms did not actively engage children and young people as a DWTS is technical in nature.
4.2. Through Eco-Schools, and dialogue via Keep Wales Tidy and Size of Wales, are the main ways the Welsh Government engages directly with children and young people on sustainable behaviours, climate change and natural resource priorities. The programmes have developed an eco-aware generation who are not simply focussed on waste reduction and recycling but on how schools and communities can contribute towards improving wider outcomes within their communities whilst reducing emissions. Many schools are already engaging in this work by taking action to reduce their waste, and by creating local partnerships with businesses and other organisations to improve their local communities and find further uses for the materials.
5. Monitoring and Review
5.1. With partners from the other UK nations’ governments, the Welsh Government will publish a post implementation monitoring plan which will seek to measure the success of the objectives of the regulations. The plan will require the Welsh Government to periodically review the benefits of the policy - including the benefits to future generations to make sure they are being realised.