Waste: Exports
(asked on 24th February 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (HL226), how many successful prosecutions there were for breaches of waste shipment legislation in each of the past five years.
The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for enforcing waste shipments legislation in England. The EA aims to make sure its enforcement response is proportionate and appropriate to each situation and the EA has a range of enforcement powers and sanctions available to it to secure compliance. The EA’s first response is usually to give advice and guidance to bring an offender into compliance where possible. Where a criminal offence has been committed, in addition to any other enforcement action, the EA will consider instituting a prosecution, administering a caution or issuing a warning. Any UK operators found to be illegally exporting waste can face severe sanctions – from financial penalties up to imprisonment for a period of up to two years. The table below details the range of EA enforcement action over the past five years, including successful prosecutions.
Illegal Waste Export Enforcement 2015 – 2020 (to date) | |||||||||
Financial Year | Total Prosecutions | Court Fines | Imprisonment | Suspended Custodial Sentences | Cautions issued by EA | EA Warning Letters | Fixed Penalty Notices1 | Civil Sanctions1 | Stop/ Prevention Notices |
2015-16 | 3 | £30,450 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 168 |
2016-17 | 1 | £1,800 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 150 |
2017-18 | 0 | £0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 160 |
2018-19 | 0 | £0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 238 |
2019-20 to date | 1 | £350,000 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
Totals | 5 | £382,250 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 1 | 1 | 716 |
[1] Issued by the Environment Agency