During a campaign in Yorkshire, agency officers found that three out of four scrap metal yards visited did not comply with pollution prevention standards for the treatment of ELVs.
A year-long amnesty, which the Agency has allowed vehicle recyclers to meet the standards set in the ELV Regulations 2003, will draw to a close next week.
Under the regulations, scrap metal firms that process vehicles must upgrade their sites to guard against any potential polluting of the environment. This includes measures such as lining sites with concrete and providing proper drainage systems.
In the last month, 50 Agency officers have carried out a campaign in East, West and South Yorkshire to demand that scrap yards comply with the environmental legislation.
The Agency said it visited 170 sites in the area, and that 130 of those sites – over three quarters of the scrap yards involved – did not comply with their licences. And, a further 23 “illegal” scrap yards have been visited and evidence gathered for possible prosecutions to be carried out.
Enforcement
Commenting on the campaign, environment management team leader Ian Cowie said the Agency was taking the enforcement of the ELV treatment standards “very seriously”.
He said: “All sites that didn't comply with the regulations were served with a notice giving them four weeks to get up to scratch. If they don't comply within this timescale we could suspend their licence or even stop them from operating.”
“Ultimately, sites that continually fail to comply with the law could end up in court and face a hefty fine, or even go to prison,” Mr Cowie warned.
Next month will also see a deadline arriving for UK shredders to install de-pollution equipment for ELVs if they wish to treat vehicles that have not been fully de-polluted and send shredder residues to non-hazardous landfill sites.
Subscribe for free