Waste dealer jailed for 16 months after dangerous shipments stopped at port
23 Jun 2014 01:10 PM
Essex man jailed after
Environment Agency investigation into illegal waste
exports
Repeat waste crime offender Joe
Benson was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court for
illegally exporting 46 tonnes of hazardous electrical waste to Nigeria, Ghana,
the Ivory Coast and the Congo. Broken cathode ray tube televisions and ozone
depleting fridge freezers were found in four containers intercepted at ports by
Environment Agency investigators between September 2012 and April
2013.
This is the first time a
defendant has been sentenced to a custodial sentence for illegally exporting
waste.
Mr Benson was previously
convicted of exporting similar hazardous electrical waste to Nigeria in 2011
during one of the Environment Agency’s biggest export cases, Operation
Boron. However he continued to illegally export televisions and freezers to
West Africa while appealing, unsuccessfully, against his previous
convictions.
It is thought that Benson, 54,
of Broad Street, Loughton, Essex, stood to make around £32,000 from the
export of the intercepted containers. He collected the electrical waste from
civic amenity sites in London and the Home Counties and took it to his licensed
waste site in Walthamstow where it should have been tested for functionality
and safety before being exported. He made money by collecting the waste and
selling it on at about £8,000 a container as well as avoiding the costs
incurred in dealing with the waste safely.
Andrew Higham, who leads the
Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Team,
said:
These are not victimless crimes.
The rules governing the exportation of waste electrical equipment are in place
for good reason, to protect human life and the environment.
It is illegal to send hazardous
waste to these countries. Mr Benson has seen fit to flaunt the rules for his
own personal benefit. The Environment Agency has a specialist crime unit to
track and prosecute criminals who export waste illegally.
Director of regulated industry
Harvey Bradshaw said:
This sentence is a landmark
ruling because it’s the first time anyone has been sent to prison for
illegal waste exports as a result of our investigations.
We take a zero tolerance
approach to those commit waste crime, and cracking down on illegal waste
exports will continue to be a priority for the Environment Agency. We urge
anyone in the waste industry to help us protect their legitimate business and
report any suspicious activity to Crimestoppers anonymously.
Working electronics can be
exported for resale and there is a legitimate market for used goods. But the
law is clear – it is always illegal to send hazardous electronic waste
from the UK to developing countries where it could be dumped and burnt to
extract precious metals, posing serious risks to people’s health and
damage to the environment. They can contain hazardous materials such as lead,
phosphors and ozone depleting substances.
Environment Agency prosecutors
showed that Mr Benson’s containers gave the impression that relevant
guidelines were being met. Independent testing showed this was not the case and
that the exports were illegal. Mr Benson entered a guilty plea at an earlier
hearing.
While sentencing Judge Dawson
said:
In my view this is a serious
offence that you have committed before. The public and the world need
protecting from this sort of offence.