Poland Plans To Send 1,000 Tonnes Of Smuggled Waste Back To UK - Greenpeace

The Polish authorities are planning to send back 1,000 tonnes of waste illegally transported to the country from the United Kingdom disguised as plastic recycling, Greenpeace UKs journalism project, Unearthed, said in a press release on Monday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) The Polish authorities are planning to send back 1,000 tonnes of waste illegally transported to the country from the United Kingdom disguised as plastic recycling, Greenpeace UKs journalism project, Unearthed, said in a press release on Monday.

Last week, The Telegraph newspaper reported that three UK firms, whose Names were not revealed due to ongoing investigation, had sent over 1,000 tonnes of waste falsely labeled as recyclable plastic to Poland. In this regard, the three companies were questioned by the UK Environment Agency (EA).

The EA told Unearthed that the agency was negotiating with the Polish authorities the repatriation of the smuggled waste.

Under EU law, illegal waste exports are punishable by fines and even prison sentences.

The recycling industry has been going through hard times since China, which used to take almost half of world's plastic trash, banned imports of foreign plastic waste in December 2017. According to Unearthed's figures, in this regard, the United Kingdom had to increase its waste exports to Poland by 31 percent in January-April.