The awarding of costs came last week following a commercial action brought in London's High Court by the shipping line, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) of Geneva. Lawyers acting on behalf of MSC emphasised that it was “unbeknown” to the company that the containers had contained waste rather than plastics for recycling.
In a statement issued to letsrecycle.com yesterday the lawyers said that “in line with the market practice, waste for recycling is loaded into MSC's shipping containers by shippers or contractors on shippers' behalf, at premises belonging to shippers or their contractors (typically a recycling centre) following instructions to MSC to deliver empty containers for loading. Once loaded, the shipper or contractor will seal the container which is then carried by road to the port for shipping onto an MSC vessel.”
The statement continued: “As MSC have no part in the loading (stuffing) operation and have no opportunity to check the contents of the sealed containers, procedures for sorting and checking the waste must be correctly observed by the (United Kingdom Environment Agency licensed) contractor loading the container. This is to ensure no infraction of the legislation, and importantly, to ensure no contamination of the containers. Equally, suppliers further up the supply chain must carefully monitor the cargo they are providing for later recycling.”
Because of the containers being found to contain waste, explained MSC's lawyers, the company had been fined £144,000 in Brazil and faced other costs including having to deep clean the containers.
MSC agreed to repatriate the waste to the UK and, after examination by the Environment Agency, it was dumped in landfill.
The company's lawyers said: “Conscious of its reputation and so as to endeavour to recover the costs borne by the Line, legal action (following detailed investigation by MSC and its legal advisors) has been taken against one of the contractors and its directors and assets frozen. Further action is now underway against others involved in the illegal activity of stuffing MSC's containers with contaminated product without any adequate checks or system for sorting or surveying prior to stuffing. MSC intend to pursue all legal avenues available to them notwithstanding considerable further expense.”
Lawsuit
As a result of the MSC legal action, Julio Cesar Rando da Costa, 49, who owned Worldwide Biorecyclables, based in South Marston, was ordered to pay £731,615 in transport costs and fines last week (February 11) following a commercial lawsuit launched in London's High Court.
The order to pay, first reported in the Swindon Advertiser on Saturday (February 13), related to waste shipped to Brazil between February and May 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Da Costa has said his company, which employed eight people from Swindon, no longer existed.
“Today I deliver pizzas and earn £900 a month,” he said. Mr da Costa said he intended to appeal the fine and was seeking legal aid to do so.
The case has sparked official indignation in Brazil, with the government saying it should not be a dump for wealthier countries.
Agency
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency told letsrecycle.com today that the civil action by MSC had “no bearing” on the criminal case being undertaken by the Agency. She did confirm that three men arrested in connection with the incident had been rebailed in October but was unable to give an update on the current status of the individuals.
The spokeswoman said: “We finished sorting through all the containers in late December and collected evidence. We have collected around 140 bags of evidence from going through the bales. We are preparing the case file, however, I can't say when it will come to court but what we are doing is preparing the case.”
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