Sinoway International Limited has been fined in mid July £2,000 and ordered to pay £2,700 in costs after pleading guilty at Workington Magistrates Court to illegally exporting waste electrical and electronic equipment to Hong Kong.
On the 20 November 2009 the Environment Agency received from the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department information regarding a suspected illegal shipment of hazardous waste from the UK The container had been inspected and opened on landing and was found to contain items of waste electrical equipment including several hundred computer monitors. These are classed as hazardous waste due to the nature of some components.
Documents found within the container indicated that Sinoway had exported the waste from Cumbria Recycling Limited in Workington to Hong Kong in September 2009. Environment Agency officers contacted Sinoway and Sinoway arranged for the waste to be returned immediately to the UK.
When the container was returned to the UK in December 2009. Environment officers inspected the container and found a number of items of waste electrical items including cables, monitors, base units, components and wires. Officers found the contents to be poorly packed and some items were visibly damaged.
Cumbria Recycling Ltd operate by collecting WEEE from civic amenity sites in Cumbria. The WEEE is then brought to their site for refurbishment or repair. Any items of WEEE that are deemed beyond repair are sent for reprocessing.
Many of the items within the container were considered to be beyond repair by Cumbria Recycling Ltd, but instead of the waste being sent for reprocessing in the UK, it was sold to Sinoway. Cumbria Recycling Ltd stated that Sinoway were fully aware that the goods were hazardous waste.
Cumbria Recycling Ltd paid for the entire contents of the container to be sent for reprocessing at a suitable facility in the UK once it had been returned to Cumbria.
Cumbria Recycling Ltd accepted that they were involved in the illegal export, by selling the waste to Sinoway and loading the waste into the container. After the container had been returned to their site, they paid for the waste to be reprocessed at a suitably permitted facility in the UK. They received a formal caution from the Environment Agency due to their role in the illegal export .
Steve Johnston, Environment Officer for the Environment Agency said: “Sinoway International Ltd exported a container of WEEE, including hazardous waste, destined for Hong Kong or China. Such an export of waste isn’t allowed under waste regulations. This case sends out a strong message to other export companies that WEEE cannot be exported to other countries. The Environment Agency will continue to take enforcement action against such offenders.
If the container had not been detained in Hong Kong and returned to the UK, there is a significant risk that the waste in the container would have been mishandled or tipped causing environmental harm."
