British company Roydon Resource Recovery Ltd has been sentenced to pay a total penalty of nearly £870,000 (€1.01m) in connection with waste plastic exports improperly declared as green waste. At issue in the case were some 247 tonnes of refuse in ten shipping containers sent to Poland. The Manchester-based recycler claimed that the material was clean plastic sorted from household waste, but the shipments consisted primarily of plastics unsuitable for recycling, according to England's Environment Agency (EA), which brought the prosecution.
The environmental enforcement body said that the material was also heavily contaminated with other household items including electrical equipment, nappies and oil canisters. The investigation led by the EA found that the waste was intended to be incinerated as fuel and there was no intention of it being recycled.
The lion's share of the company payment ordered by the Manchester Crown Court, some £811,181, is a recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The legislation allows the government to confiscate money or assets gained during the course of criminal activity.
One of the company's directors was also convicted of the illegal export of waste and disregard for proper management protocols. He was ordered to pay a fine of £10,000, according to the Environment Agency's statement.
Emma Viner, EA enforcement & investigations manager, welcomed the outcome of the prosecution. "Illegal waste operations like this undermine legitimate businesses, undercut their prices, and blight the environment," she said, adding that the Agency was working under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that waste crime does not pay.
Roydon Resource Recovery operated until 2018 as Roydon Polythene (Exports) Ltd. The company belongs to the larger Roydon Group, which includes Roydon Bottle Recycling, Roydon Granulation and Roydon Polythene. The group's Roydon Recycling UK business was carved out and sold to private equity firm Palatine last year and now operates as Papilo Ltd.
Permission to appeal Crown Court convictions and sentences may be sought up to 28 days after they are issued.
Court case tied to high-profile 2018 incident
The shipments for which Roydon was charged were discovered during stepped-up inspections coordinated by the World Customs Organisation as part of its Demeter IV operation. Between 28 June and 12 July 2018, Gdynia customs authorities and the Gdańsk Provincial Inspectorate of Environmental Protection inspected 500 containers, detaining 45 containing a total of approximately 1,097 tonnes of contaminated waste incorrectly declared as material for recycling, the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) said.
In cooperation with the Environment Agency, the repatriation of the waste began late in the summer of 2018 and was widely reported in both British and Polish media. The costs of returning the material were borne, at least initially, by British authorities.
The EA subsequently investigated five companies in connection with the illegal shipments that arrived in Gdynia, an Agency spokesperson told EUWID. In addition to the charges brought against Roydon Resource Recovery, two businesses received warning letters, one submitted an enforcement undertaking which was accepted, and the investigation of the final business was discontinued.
This article was updated on 12 April 2024.
