EA warning to companies illegally exporting waste

12 April 2007
 
The Environment Agency is warning that companies illegally exporting recyclable waste will be prosecuted, following the recent conviction of a Crayford-based waste company.
Grosvenor Waste Management (GWM), which handles household recyclable waste from London and the Home Counties, was last week fined £55,000 plus £85,000 costs for illegally exporting household waste, which was destined for developing countries in Southeast Asia.
In what the agency called ‘one of the largest cases of its kind’, the company pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to six counts of illegally exporting 1.8Mkg of unsorted household waste in 95 12m containers to India, China and Indonesia between November 2004 and February 2005.
The waste, discovered by agency officers at Southampton and Dutch officers in the Netherlands, included nappies, food waste, textiles, cardboard, tin cans, plastic drink bottles, sealed council recycling bags and black plastic bags.
The Environment Agency also served a notice to repatriate the 20 containers that were shipped to Indonesia on 13 June 2005, but GWM continued to ship them to Malaysia in July 2005.
‘[This case] shows we won’t hesitate to pursue companies who export waste illegally,’ said agency ports project manager, John Burns.
‘There is a legitimate and growing market abroad for recyclables, but there are rules covering waste exports, and these need to be adhered to for the benefit of the environment, here and abroad.’
In a statement issued following the conviction, GMW said: ‘It was established that the problems which led to the Dutch and Indonesian material considered in court occurred over a three-day period.
‘The other material in question was repatriated and re-processed. The public can be confident that all their material was, and is, recycled.’

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