The inspections came as part of a Europe-wide crackdown on companies breaking EU transfrontier shipment rules, which require the registering of mixed wastes destined for recovery abroad.
 Suspect containers described as having paper for recycling were found to contain mixed rubbish, Agency inspectors said |
They came six months after a similar inspection week found that 47% of containers checked contained contamination levels deemed unacceptable by the Agency.
Commenting on the latest round of inspections, the whereabouts of which it refused to reveal on legal grounds, the Agency said companies “appear to be abusing the rules and exporting waste illegally without the relevant permissions”.
Municipal
The Agency's inspections were targeted specifically at municipal waste exports, electrical and electronic waste and scrap metals. It said contents of containers were “not always as described to customs”.
John Burns, the Agency's environmental manager, said: “When inspected, the suspect containers which were described as having paper for recycling were found to contain mixed rubbish including plastics, textiles and rotting food infested with maggots.
“We have detained these containers and where we have sufficient evidence of illegal activities we will take enforcement action,” Mr Burns added.
Rules
Transfrontier shipment rules are being reviewed at EU level (see letsrecycle.com story), but under current rules all exports of wastes from the UK for the purposes of disposal are prohibited.
As far as exports of material destined for recovery in OECD countries are concerned, wastes are classified into “Green list”, “Amber list” or “Red list” depending on how hazardous they are deemed to be. Controls may differ for non-OECD countries, which decide individually what they will accept.
Green list wastes have little in the way of controls for exporting to OECD countries for recovery. These include materials that have been “properly sorted” for recovery.
Amber list materials – which include unsorted municipal waste – may be exported for recovery after authorities have been notified and unless recipient countries have objected within a certain period.
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Red list materials cannot be exported unless the written consent of all competent authorities has been given prior to shipment.
About 70,000 tonnes of waste exports from England and Wales are notified to the Environment Agency each year.
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