A Wokingham shipping company has been fined and its director handed a prison sentence for attempting to illegally ship WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) to West Africa
Bakour Limited and its company director, based at Rushton Farm, Warren House Road in Wokingham, pleaded guilty to offences relating to the attempted shipment of 6 containers filled with WEEE to various West African countries.
On 23 March 2015, Reading Crown Court ordered Bakour Limited to pay a fine of £7,950. Adam Bakour, the sole company director, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 2 years. Mr Bakour was also ordered to pay a contribution of £5,000 to the costs of the Environment Agency investigation and prosecution.
The court heard that Bakour Ltd offers a professional shipping service for used electrical goods. The company obtained the items for shipment mainly from recycling centres, civic amenity sites and Sunday markets. The items included CRT (cathode ray tube) televisions and fridge freezers, which contain hazardous components. Hazardous WEEE should not be sent to countries which lack the capacity and infrastructure to ensure that the items are treated without risk to human health or the environment.
Six shipping containers loaded with WEEE, some of which was hazardous, were stopped by the Environment Agency prior to export to various West African countries between October 2011 and August 2013. In each instance, the containers were filled with items from and loaded at Bakour Ltd’s premises at Rushton Farm in Wokingham.
Each container was unloaded and examined at the Environment Agency’s dedicated inspection yard. The contents were examined for compliance with the Revised Correspondents’ Guidelines No1 on Shipments of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment - the agreed European standard used by regulators and provided to industry to determine whether a shipment of electrical and electronic equipment is to be regarded as waste or not.
Transporting waste specified in Article 36(1)(d) of European Regulation 1013/2006 on Shipments of Waste, namely a mixture of hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste, that was destined for recovery in a country to which the OECD decision does not apply – contrary to Regulation 23 of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007.
Attempting to export items containing dicholorodiflouromethane (also known as R12 gas) which is prohibited from export out of the European Community by Article 17(1) of European Regulation 1005/2009 on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – contrary to Regulation 4(1), Schedule 2 and Regulation 6 of the Environmental Protection (Control on Ozone-Depleting Substances) Regulations 2011.
Northern Ireland Water Limited fined £250 for breach of Consent
Northern Ireland Water (NIW) pleaded guilty and was fined £250 at Londonderry Magistrates Court on 19 March 2015.
The fine related to the breaching of conditions of a discharge consent relating to the operation of Manorwood Waste Water Pumping Station (WWPS), Londonderry.
On 9 December 2013, a Water Quality Inspector acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, inspected the Ardnabrocky Burn and observed an extensive covering of sewage fungus coating 100% of the bed of the waterway. The water in the Burn was observed to be slightly cloudy and the impact on the waterway stretched for over 200 metres downstream.
NIW stated that on 5 December 2013, one of the pumps was reported as not functioning. A NIW operative attended the site but was unable to start the pump. An order was raised for an M & E fitter to repair the pump, however, it was decided to leave this work until later as there was a second pump available. One pump is not capable of coping with the incoming flows and as a result the storm was overflowing over the weekend. NIW further stated that the pump arrangements at the time of the incident were duty / assist, however, the arrangements were recorded as duty / standby at the Telemetry Control Centre and the wet well range was set incorrectly. This situation contravened the conditions of a Water (NI) Order 1999 ‘consent to discharge’ issued in respect of the installation.
NIW was charged under Article 7 (6) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 with the offence of breaching the conditions of a discharge consent.
Bedfordshire recycling company to pay £23,000 for dirty waste
Sending waste abroad illegally landed a recycling company in court on 16 March 2015. Monoworld Ltd admitted sending mixed waste to Germany and China without the prior written notification and consent of the authorities. Northampton magistrates fined the Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire company £10,000 and ordered it to pay full Environment Agency costs of £13,745.
Monoworld Ltd arranged shipment of waste from its sister company’s site Monoworld Recycling at Rushden in Northamptonshire and in 2013 illegally tried to ship to the two countries. The Germany consignment was stopped by Dutch authorities and the China consignment was detected by Environment Agency officers in a routine inspection at the Port of Felixstowe.
Directors of both companies are the same and the company was convicted in 2004 for 10 similar offences under earlier transfrontier shipment regulations and for keeping waste without a waste management licence. In 2012 the company was issued a formal warning for a similar breach of the regulations when two containers of waste electrical and electronic equipment were destined for Hong Kong.
Recycled plastic waste returned by Holland was contaminated with metal cans, food trays, aerosol cans and wood amongst other items and it smelt. There were also flies and some of the waste was a year old. Agency investigators found there was no proper contract or financial guarantee between Monoworld Ltd and the German company where the waste was headed. Monoworld declined an interview with the Agency.
The shipment bound for China was also found to contain plastics contaminated with decomposing plant leaves, latex gloves, wood, cans and cable as well as pockets of polluting brown liquid. Rodent droppings and mould could also be detected. In one container there were crushed wheelie bins that had not even been cleaned out. The company declined an interview with the Agency.
Enforcement notices under the TFS Regulations were served on both Monoworld Ltd and Monoworld Recycling in December 2013 and reissued in March 2014 after the offences came to light. They required the companies to introduce written management systems for the export of waste. Mrs Tordoff said they had since been complied with. The procedures the company had in place before the offences did not specifically comply with TFS regulations but in any event were not followed. It was only in response to an enforcement notice served by the Environment Agency that an adequate management system was put in place.
Monoworld Ltd accepted there had been serious procedural failings but that the company had taken steps to address that with a £9.8 million investment in new sorting lines and a new recycling facility at the Rushden site.
Sentencing the company, the Chair of the Magistrates said the offences were at best negligent and at worst deliberate. Considering all the facts the company’s actions were reckless.
Monoworld Ltd pleaded guilty to:
- On or about 1 July 2013, and by virtue of Article 3(1)(b) of the European Waste Shipment Regulation EC 1013/2006, the company transported mixed waste from Monoworld Recycling Facility, Saunders Lodge Industrial Estate, Rushden, Northamptonshire to Tönsmeier factory, Veolia Umweltservice West GbmH, Rottst. 12, 44653 Herne, Germany without the competent authority of dispatch having been notified in accordance with Article 4 of the said European Regulation. Contrary to Regulations 19(2)(a) and 58 of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 - FINE £5,000
- On or about 7 October 2013, and by virtue of Article 37(5) of the European Waste Shipment Regulation EC 1013/2006, the company transported mixed waste to China, a country to which the OECD decision does not apply, without the procedure of prior written notification and consent of Article 35 of the said European Regulation Contrary to Regulations 23B(2) and 58 of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 - FINE £5,000
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