The UK’s largest waste company, Biffa, has been fined £1.5m after exporting filthy rubbish marked as waste paper for recycling in India and Indonesia, in actions a judge called “reckless, bordering on deliberate”. The seven-figure fine is the second time in two years the company has been fined for exporting household waste to a non-OECD country. Instead Biffa told the Guardian: “We take our responsibility for environmental stewardship very seriously and we accept the court’s judgment. The Environment Agency will pursue those who blight the lives of overseas communities through illegal exports. In September 2019, Biffa was fined £350,000, with costs of £240,000 and a proceeds of crime order of £9,912, for sending household waste, described as waste paper, to China between May and June 2015.

Source: The Guardian July 30, 2021 16:52 UTC