‘Soiled nappies’ among plastic waste bound for Turkey

In March 2019, P&D filled 11 containers with plastic contaminated with “banned waste” at Chatham Dockyard, Gillingham, Kent the Agency said in a statement released today (8 July).

The company planned to send the containers, which were described as plastic scrap and weighed approximately 220 tonnes, to a Turkish facility.

Contaminated

During a routine inspection at the dockyard, the Agency says it found the “illegal export of waste from Kent” contained plastic contaminated with soiled nappies, sanitary towels, condoms, cotton buds, glass and textiles including old underwear and tin cans.

P&D “accepted that the contents inspected were unsuitable for export”, the Agency says, and returned the containers to its facility, with the contents sent for incineration.

As a result, P&D donated £13,000 in enforcement undertakings to a Sandwich-based ornithology charity, as reported by letsrecycle.com last week (see letsrecycle.com story). P&D also paid the Agency’s £10,846 investigation costs.

To prevent further breaches, the Agency says the company has agreed to employ additional staff. It will also employ a company that specialises in the manufacturing of waste sorting stations to design a secondary clean-up system and an additional picking station.

Letsrecycle.com has contacted P&D for comment.

Exports

Stephen Young, the Environment Agency’s lead investigator on the case, said: “We want all producers and waste companies to be responsible and make sure they only export material that can be legally and safely sent abroad for recycling.

All UK waste exports should meet regulations on waste shipments
– Stephen Young, Environment Agency

“Illegal waste exports blight the lives and environment of those overseas. All UK waste exports should meet regulations on waste shipments, and the Environment Agency has a system of inspections in place to verify compliance.

MRFs

Launched in 2016, P&D specialises in processing residual waste arising from material recycling facilities (MRFs).

The company’s purpose-built plant at Chatham Dockyard opened in August 2017 and was designed to recover glass, metals and refuse derived fuel from MRF residue material.

P&D’s plan to export the illegal waste was not in line with the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations of 2007.

Enforcement undertakings

The undertakings scheme allows businesses to avoid possible court action and instead make voluntary donations if they have breached, or appear likely to have breached, environmental regulations. These donations go to charities chosen by those who do not uphold the obligations.

Some within the waste sector have expressed concerns that money paid for recycling breaches goes to charities which, while good causes, are not relevant to recycling.

The Sandwich Bay Observatory Trust, a charity committed to the conservation of the natural environment in the Sandwich Bay area, used the £13,000 donation for work on an artificial wetland project.