Waste crime penalties get tougher

The Environment Agency says 454 waste crimes were prosecuted last year, with offences ranging from storing waste without a licence to large scale fly-tipping of hazardous waste, and the illegal export of waste for disposal abroad.

Combined with an increase in the severity of penalties handed down by the courts, this means fines added up to £3 million in 2008 – rising from £1.5 million in 2003.

Examples of recent successful prosecutions include the soft drinks company, Red Bull, with the largest ever fine of £261,268, after the company failed to meet its requirements to recover and recycle packaging waste. The Environment Agency also successfully prosecuted an operator of an illegal landfill site in Cheshire, which was fined £50,000 in March for allowing thousands of tonnes of controlled waste to be deposited. Meanwhile, a serial fly tipper was jailed for two and a half years for repeatedly collecting household and business waste for a fee, and then dumping it around Bristol and the surrounding countryside, and a West Midlands based metal recovery company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay over £7,000 in prosecution costs for attempting to illegally export hazardous waste cables to China.

The increase in crime penalties is largely down to the new National Environmental Crime Team to target organised waste crime. Set up last year, the team is made up of former-detectives, intelligence officers and forensics experts.

“This is not about people putting rubbish in the wrong bins – we concentrate on those individuals and companies whose illegal activities have the potential to cause serious damage to the environment,” said Liz Parkes, head of Waste and Resource Management at the Environment Agency. “The rules on how to handle, transport and dispose of waste are in place to protect the environment and people’s health, in this country and abroad. The Environment Agency takes swift and decisive action against anyone who flouts these strict controls. The increase in the level of fines reflects how seriously the Environment Agency and the courts are taking waste offences.”