Saica Natur admitted a breach of international waste shipment regulations at its centre in Croy, Lanarkshire.
Investigators found stacks of waste paper contaminated with soiled nappies and other household rubbish.
Fifty one containers bound for China were intercepted by officers from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
They discovered food waste, clothing, electrical equipment and children’s toys mixed with paper that should have been converted to cardboard.
I conclude that in this case the culpability and harm lie towards the lower end of the range
– Sheriff Fergus Thomson
‘Negligent’
Passing sentence, Sheriff Fergus Thomson accepted the company had been negligent rather than deliberate in its actions.
It had failed to “take reasonable care to enforce proper procedures” and “fallen short” of its usual standards.
The sheriff acknowledged that the soiled paper had been bound for a waste processing site in China so there would have been no risk of environmental harm.
He told Airdrie Sheriff Court: “I conclude that in this case the culpability and harm lie towards the lower end of the range.”
Saica Natur had no previous convictions and since this offence had “invested significantly” in improvements at Croy.
Sheriff Thomson added: “Sentence must be fair, proportionate and no more severe than is necessary to bring home the need to comply with important legislation.
“But I must impose a substantial financial penalty in this case.”
Saica Natur had a turnover of around £50 million last year.
Fire
The court heard that paper waste was usually sent from Croy to the company’s recycling facility in Manchester.
However, a fire there in 2016 greatly reduced capacity and the Spanish-owned company arranged to export paper to China.
The offence arose because the consignment was so heavily contaminated it was classed as mixed waste.
China is not party to the Basel Convention, an international treaty designed to reduce the movement of hazardous and other waste between nations.
That means exporting mixed waste to China is illegal.
Quality
Joe Stewart, prosecuting, stated: “SEPA officers visited the Croy depot in September 2016 and had concerns about the quality of paper waste.
“It was established that 48 containers were in transit to China, including 29 that had reached Belgium. Another three were at Grangemouth port.
“All of these containers were intercepted.
“Officers spent six months picking through bales of waste paper and found soiled nappies, food waste, electrical equipment, clothing and toys.
“While a small amount of contamination is to be expected, SEPA officers said the level here went far beyond what could be acceptable.”
Learned from experience
Defence counsel Claire Mitchell QC told the court that Saica had “learned from the experience”.
At the time of the offence the Croy depot was dealing with three times the usual amount of waste and was “under pressure to increase the speed of sorting it”.
Mrs Mitchell stressed: “There’s no suggestion of a flagrant disregard for the law. Culpability is at the lower end of the spectrum.
“This was negligence as opposed to something that was intentional. It was a one-off oversight and it was not financially motivated.”
The lawyer said Saica would have made a £25,000 profit from the sale of waste paper to its Chinese customer, but ended up paying almost £200,000 to have the consignment returned to Scotland and stored pending the SEPA investigation.
Since the incident changes have been made and there is “ongoing training” for staff.
The firm liaises closely with SEPA and there have been no further issues.
Mrs Mitchell added: “The company has expressed a genuine wish to deal with this matter, move forward and do better.”
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