Agency losing ground in battle against illegal waste sites

The annual “name and shame” report on the environmental performance of businesses in England and Wales during 2004 revealed a 27% increase in serious pollution incidents cause by the waste industry. A third of these incidents were caused by unlicensed sites – a problem that is increasing, according to the Agency.

” Restricting the ability of persistent offenders to operate may be the only way of protecting the public and the environment from risk. “
– Barbara Young, Environment Agency
This year saw the very first use of an ASBO for environmental crime – the measure was imposed on a skip and plant hire business to prevent it from illegally burning skip-loads of rubbish.

The waste industry now accounts for nearly a third of all serious pollution incidents caused by business, the Agency said.

While only 46% of waste sites were found fully compliant with their waste management licence conditions, the average fines for environmental crimes imposed by the courts was down by hundreds of pounds on 2003, to about 8,500.

Outlining the findings of the Agency's “Spotlight 2004” report, chief executive Barbara Young said: “Restricting the ability of persistent offenders to operate may be the only way of protecting the public and the environment from risk.

Reputation
“The public damage to reputation of a jail sentence, a community service order or an ASBO may also act as a more effective deterrent than a fine that represents little more than back pocket cash to many of these environmental profiteers,” Baroness Young added.

There were three waste companies among the top ten fines handed out for environmental offences across all business sectors in 2004. The top fine – 48,000 – went to an illegal individual operator, but WRG Waste Services and Viridor Waste Management also made the top ten with fines of 43,500 and 42,500 respectively, both for breaches of licence conditions. In all, 960 sites had poorer environmental performances in 2004 than in the previous year.

On a more positive note, the Environment Agency revealed that 53% of all waste produced by the sites regulated was reused or recycled, the highest on record.

Waste management sites are now transferring over to a new Pollution Prevention and Control regime, and the Agency said their environmental management “is amongst the best of all sites we assess”. And, the Agency said 60% of sites scored the highest band A grade.