Businessmen who helped illegally ship tonnes of waste abroad due to be sentenced
9:03am Tuesday 5th March 2013 in Latest News
The Old Bailey, London
BUSINESSMEN who ran Swindon-based firms and helped illegally ship 1,500 tonnes of household waste to Brazil will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today.
Father and son Julio Da Costa, 52, and Juliano Da Costa, 28, have admitted transporting the material against Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regulations.
They ran two Swindon-based companies now in liquidation and arranged the shipments in 2008 and 2009 of 89 containers.
Edwards Waste Paper and director Simon Edwards, 47, and sales manager Jonathan Coombe, 42, admitted loading some 750 tonnes of the waste at their site in Barking, east London.
The prosecution follows the discovery on a quayside in Brazil five years ago of containers of waste.
Brazilian authorities complained to Britain and said some of the waste was thought to be toxic.
The Environment Agency said the shipment, described as "mixed plastics", was rejected by the Brazilian authorities and the containers were repatriated to the UK.
On the shipment's return to Felixstowe Docks, the agency oversaw its transfer to be fumigated.
Andy Higham, head of the EA's national crime team, said: "Illegal waste exports risk harm to human health and the environment in the country of export."
The maximum penalty for exporting waste illegally is an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.
