Crackdown leads to trail of illegal waste

The UK Environment Agency has revealed that 75% of containers inspected at a UK port by its dedicated illegal waste enforcement team were found to break the rules.

"When inspected, the suspect containers which were described as having paper for recycling were found to contain mixed rubbish including plastics, textiles and rotting food infested with maggots. We have detained these containers and where we have sufficient evidence of illegal activities we will take enforcement action", said John Burns, Environmental Manager at the Environment Agency.

This inspection was part of a week of Europe-wide inspections that ran from Monday October 10 to Sunday October 16 2005, which aimed to improve intelligence on the growing problem of illegal exports of waste going between, and in and out of, European countries.

The Environment Agency’s intelligence-led inspections specifically targeted municipal waste, electrical and electronic equipment and scrap metals - where the contents of containers are not always as described to customs.