Environment Agency officers seized two vehicles following a series of random checks in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire last week as part of a ‘crackdown’ on waste crime.
During a day of action on Thursday, August 8, Agency officers carried out waste-carrier checks on a total of seven vehicles.
The vehicle which did not have a waste carrier licensed was ‘taken off the road’ (Picture: Environment Agency)
Vehicles were seized for having no road tax, while another vehicle that did not have a valid waste carrier licence and was illegally carrying scrap metal.
In a statement, Mark Nevitt, national enforcement service team leader in Hertfordshire, said: “Working with partners such as the police helps us run roadside operations, and the ability to share intelligence around non-compliant waste carriers.
“The Environment Agency wants to make sure businesses carrying waste have the proper authorisations to allow them to transport and transfer rubbish – a waste carrier’s registration from the Environment Agency and waste transfer note from the waste producer.”
Taxpayer
A statement from the Agency also pointed to statistics showing that people who manage waste illegally cost the taxpayer millions of pounds every year in clean-up costs, and make “considerable sums of undeclared income”.
Broxbourne chief inspector Craig Flint for Hertfordshire Police, added: “Working with our partner agencies, such as the Environment Agency, continues to prove essential to our work.
“Not only does illegal waste, which can end up dumped indiscriminately, cause a blight on our countryside, there can also be associated criminality, including traffic offences, as well as the detrimental effect on public health. Additionally, the removal and proper disposal of such waste is at the taxpayers’ expense.”
Working with our partner agencies, such as the Environment Agency, continues to prove essential to our work
Last week’s ‘day of action’ follows on from a similar exercise in March 2019, where officers undertook a series of visits to suspected illegal waste site across Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire as part of a sting operation (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
