A major investigation is underway in Holland into alleged illegal shipments of ‘waste’ material from the UK and Ireland to Asia.
The Dutch authorities have confirmed to letsrecycle.com that two managers of a Dutch company were arrested earlier this month for interrogation. They were released after two days but remain as suspects.
As a consequence of the publicity surrounding the case, the recovered paper industry federation for Holland, the FNOI, has spoken of its preference for the separate collection of recyclables in the UK.
The Dutch case is of potential significance to the UK because of the large volumes of recyclable materials that are sent to export markets via ports in Holland such as Rotterdam. Legal actions in the UK in the past over exports of materials, usually recovered paper,and whether they are contaminated have on occasions involved Dutch connections.
The National Prosecutors Office for the Netherlands said today: The National Prosecutors Office presumes that the company violated environmental rules for the export of waste. Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the EP and the Council of June 14 2006 on shipments of waste, to be exact.
And it confirmed that the investigation concerns household waste from the UK as well as Ireland.
Regulators
The Dutch authorities have not said which part of the UK the waste has come from. The regulatory authority in Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said it had no knowledge of the case at present. A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency, which covers England and Wales, said: We are aware of the case and we will be cooperating with Dutch authorities as the investigation develops.”
The arrests in Breda have caused controversy in Holland. The Dutch media have identified the company at which the arrests were made. And while the Dutch authorities have not officially named the group as being involved, the company itself has issued a strongly worded statement denying any wrongdoing.
The Dutch recovered paper trade association, FNOI, issued a statement in the wake of the arrests.A spokesman for the FNOI told letsrecycle.com that it did not support commingled collection of materials as happens in the UK.
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Interpretation
For UK authorities and protagonists in the debate over whether materials should be collected commingled or separately, the Dutch case is likely to add to the debate. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is to start work in January on clarifying its interpretation of revised Waste Framework Directive requirements for the separate collection of materials.
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