12/05/2005 - A company
that illegally shipped 20 containers of waste
plastic to India from a Somerset trading estate
was today ordered to pay £25,800 in
fines and costs. The case was brought by the
Environment Agency.
Materials Recovery Limited continued to export
plastic to India from its depot at Norton
Fitzwarren, Taunton in breach of international
trans-frontier shipment regulations.
The court heard that Materials Recovery had
taken over the assets of a previous company
that had operated from the site. The illegal
shipments took place over a five month period
between June 11 and November 4, 2003.
Environment Agency officers had been carrying
out surveillance on Materials Recovery Limited
that culminated with a call to go to Southampton
Docks on November 3, 2003 to inspect a shipping
container seized by HM Customs. Customs officers
opened the container which was packed with
what appeared to be waste plastic, some bailed,
some loose and some on rolls.
The following day Environment Agency officers
went to Materials Recovery Ltd on Taunton
Trading Estate, where they found plastics
similar to those in the container on the docks.
Materials Recovery Limited of Crossways,
Bicester Road, Kingswood, Buckinghamshire
today pleaded guilty to 12 offences and asked
Taunton magistrates to take a further 10 offences
into consideration. The company was charged
with shipping waste to India in circumstances
deemed to be illegal traffic under an EU Council
Regulation. It was fined £20,000 and
ordered to pay £5,800 costs.
"All exports of plastic waste except
a type known as PET can only be exported in
line with Red List Controls. This basically
means these non-PET exports were illegal.
We don’t know what was happening to this plastic
once it reached India but the export of waste
for disposal is strictly prohibited outside
the UK. This is prevent us dumping our waste
on developing nations. Materials Recovery
Limited breached UK, European and International
Legislation," said Andy King for the
Environment Agency.
