Combatting waste crime

Belgium

• In a Belgian case from 2019, three defendants, the managing directors of the company "PTB Ltd", operated a plant for the storage and processing of shredder material, light organic waste, screenings and the production of recovered solid fuels ('SRF'). Large quantities of waste had been collected for a price of EUR 1 below the market price, without there being a real and legal market for the processed waste.
  The company could not be prosecuted because it went bankrupt in 2014. However, the court considered the three managers criminally liable as each of them had the power to take decisions concerning the offences and to have the waste removed.
  The defendants were accused of storing 158767 tons of waste without authorization or in excess of the authorized quantities and of not complying with the fire safety operating condition. 14,329 tons of fluff had been dumped in the port of Ghent in a tugboat with mute barges.
  The court was satisfied that there was any license for some of the activities, while the authorized quantities were systematically extended. Further, the activities continued even after the environmental inspectorate reported the violations. Generally, the managers did not prioritized compliance with environmental regulations and subordinated them to personal financial interests. The infringements were continued even after the environmental inspections and were not sufficiently remedied.
  All three managers were held equally responsible. The first defendant was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment (23 months on probation, 37 months effective) and a fine of 600.000 euro. He had already been convicted for waste crimes previously. The other two managers were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment (suspended) and a fine of 600.000 euro and 2 years imprisonment (suspended) and a fine of 300.000 euro.
  The prosecutor also asked for the seizure of over 15 million euros, the price of the removal of 158.767 tons of waste, but the court ordered instead the removal of the waste within 10 months after the judgment becomes final under a penalty of 1.000 euro per day for each of the defendants.
  In its reasoning the court referred explicitly to Article 5 of Directive 2008/99 on the protection of the environment through criminal law, concerning the requirement of effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties. Further, the judgment was based on the unprecedented scale of waste fraud in Belgium, the environmental damage actually caused, the pursuit of profit and the preference of personal financial interests over the general interest of public safety. Furthermore, even after the warnings of the environmental inspectorate, the defendants failed to comply with the regulations and their actions distorted competition with companies seeking to comply with environmental regulations.
  An appeal has been lodged against the judgment.