Catherine Ross - 12-Jan-2007 - The Environment Agency in Kent is clamping down on contaminated waste being reused or dumped as clean waste. Environment officers across Kent are in the middle of a trial programme of waste testing at landfills and waste treatment plants. They are also testing waste that is being reused on a number of housing and industrial developments in the South East.

As well as sampling the waste on site, officers are also conducting a programme of checking the lorries and the material they are carrying as soon as it is tipped.

The problems of contaminated waste going into the wrong site can be very severe. The environment and the public could be put at risk if hazardous waste such as asbestos, oil or heavy metals goes to the wrong place. Sites that are allowed to accept hazardous or contaminated waste have very strict control measures in place to prevent harm to the environment. These control measures include barriers that will stop oil, heavy metals and other contaminated leachates getting into the groundwater. The population of North Kent gets most of its drinking water from groundwater and if this gets polluted then the impact can be severe.

Paul Bennett from the Environment Agency said:

"There are processes in place to make sure different types of waste are handled in the right way. There are specific waste sites to handle hazardous materials such as asbestos, oil and heavy metals to make sure that they don’t pose a hazard to people or the environment.

"We have found a range of hazardous materials in so called clean waste. Sometimes this may be an accident or oversight but on other occasions it is because someone has deliberately put it there.

"Waste is a big business in Kent and the industry is growing with all the construction and regeneration occurring in Kent and the South East. Our job is to make sure that these services are lawful and safe and present the least possible risk to the environment or local people.

"Waste crime is being taken increasingly seriously. Under the Hazardous Waste Regulations and the Environmental Protection act offenders can be fined up to £50,000 and could face a custodial sentence. It’s not just the waste carrier who needs to worry, the companies or individuals producing the waste and the waste sites accepting the waste can all face prosecution."

The Environment Agency is continuing this trial programme of random checks on waste carriers until April when it will be incorporated into the normal work programm.