The company pleaded guilty to four offences in relation to errors made when issuing WEEE recycling evidence in 2007 and 2008 and, in a hearing at Norwich Magistrates Court on Monday (January 4) was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4,456.
According to the Environment Agency, the company, which operates from a number of sites in Norfolk, exported 1,967 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment during this time frame.
The three other offences involved the company logging evidence notes on March 18 2009 for treating WEEE that was received prior to SITA Metal Recycling in Norwich being an approved authorised treatment facility – specifically between January and March 2008 – with the evidence notes initially being issued in 2008.
As a result, SITA Metal Recycling was found to have acted contrary to regulation 46 (1) and 73 (8) (a) of the WEEE Regulations, with it not securing approval to issue evidence until April 2008.
Prosecuting, Anne-Lise McDonald, told the court that the offences and errors made by SITA, which came to light during an audit carried out by an officer from the EA's Norwich office, “showed a lack of management focus”.
But, in mitigation, Stephen Tromans QC claimed the errors were a genuine mistake, and had occurred during a period of management change, as well as stressing that there was no direct impact on the environment or commercial benefit from the company's actions.
SITA UK
And, commenting on the case, a spokeswoman for SITA said: “SITA UK was taken to court by the Environment Agency for four charges with respect to breaches to WEEE regulations. Apart from minor administration oversights, we had complied with our interpretation of the regulations, which the Agency challenged in court. The fine imposed by the judge was very low, reflecting the courts view of the breach.
“Nonetheless, we have worked with the EA and our teams to better understand the regulations and adhere by all administrative points in the future,” she added.
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