06/12/2005 - The Environment Agency today (Monday) urged all local authorities to check that their recyclable waste is exported legally.

The call comes as the Environment Agency today confirmed that they are investigating 11 cases involving the alleged illegal export of waste.

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency said: "Many of us do our bit for the environment by recycling as much of our rubbish as we can. Its absolutely essential that we can be sure that when we put our glass and paper into the recycling box that it does end up being properly recycled.

"There is a legitimate and growing market abroad for recyclables, but there are rules to ensure that it’s done properly. We will continue to work with Government and industry to raise awareness of the rules and ensure that workable standards are in place, but local authorities and waste managers need to check that waste collected for recycling is dealt with properly."

Under the rules, it’s illegal to export waste for disposal but it can sent abroad for recycling. The maximum penalty for exporting waste illegally is an unlimited fine or up to 2 years in prison.

The Environment Agency is tackling illegal waste exports by:

targeted enforcement at UK ports including the detention and inspection of more than 350 vehicles and containers

working closely with enforcers around the world including in Indonesia and Hong Kong to share intelligence

informing industry and local authorities on the rules, what they need to do to meet them and what we’ll do if they don’t

auditing the standards at recycling facilities in England and Wales to check where their recyclables are going for export that they are dealt with properly

Barbara Young continued "We don’t want to stop legitimate recycling but we will come down hard on anyone we catch breaking the rules."