Environment Agency Fines For Waste Crimes Top £3m

The Environment Agency (EA) announced in July that successful

prosecutions for waste crimes in 2008 resulted in fines exceeding

£3m.

In 2004 the EA brought 455 waste prosecutions resulting in total

fines of £1,424,843.00, or an average of £3,132 per

fine. In 2008 the Agency brought an almost identical number of

prosecutions – 454 - but total fines reached

£3,156,427.00, an average of £6,952 per fine.

The large increase in fines could indicate many things, not

least that Courts are beginning to view environmental crime more

seriously and thus deserving of greater punishment. However, the EA

ascribes the increase to its crack down on waste crime;

highlighting amongst other things the creation of the National

Environmental Crime Team, which is made up of around 20 former

detectives, intelligence officers and forensic experts which was

set up to target organised waste crime.

The Head of Waste and Resource Management at the EA, Liz Parkes

said "this is not about people putting rubbish in the

wrong bins – we concentrate on those individuals and

companies whose illegal activities have the potential to cause

serious damage to the environment".

Many in the waste industry may not share this view. The

Environment Agency has been criticised in the past for choosing to

prosecute co-operative companies for minor infringements, where

lesser punishment may be more appropriate, rather than tackling

habitual and serious waste offenders.

Indeed, our experience is of the...