CA site illegal WEEE exporter jailed

Joe Benson, 54, of Broad Street in Loughton, Essex, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday (June 20) for exporting 46 tonnes of hazardous waste to Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo between September and April 2013.

According to the Environment Agency, this is the first time a defendant has been sentenced to a custodial sentence for illegally exporting waste.

Mr Benson was previously convicted of exporting hazardous electrical waste to Nigeria in 2011 during one of the Agencys biggest illegal export cases. Fines totalling more than 150,000 were handed out to seven defendants in December 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Benson then unsuccessfully sought to appeal against his conviction, while continuing to export waste televisions and freezers to West Africa.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Stephen Dawson said: In my view this is a serious offence that you have committed before. The public and the world need protecting from this sort of offence.

Investigation

The court heard that broken cathode ray tube televisions and fridge freezers had been found in four containers intercepted at ports by Environment Agency investigators.

Under the terms of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 electronic goods can be exported for resale where there is a legitimate market for used goods and where they have been subject to rigorous testing.

However, it is illegal to send unusable electronic waste from the UK to developing countries where it could be dumped and burnt to extract precious metals, posing serious risks to peoples health and damage to the environment.

Profit

According to the Agency, Mr Benson stood to make around 32,000 from the export of the intercepted containers. He collected the electrical waste from civic amenity sites in London and the Home Counties and took it to his licensed waste site in Walthamstow where it should have been tested for functionality and safety before being exported.

Environment Agency prosecutors claimed that Mr Bensons containers gave the impression that relevant guidelines were being met, but added that independent testing showed this was not the case and that the exports were illegal. Mr Benson entered a guilty plea at an earlier hearing in March.

Commenting on the sentencing, the Agencys director of regulated industry, Harvey Bradshaw, said: This sentence is a landmark ruling because its the first time anyone has been sent to prison for illegal waste exports. Cracking down on illegal waste exports will continue to be a priority for the Environment Agency. We urge anyone in the waste industry to help us protect their legitimate business and report any suspicious activity to Crimestoppers anonymously.