Camera still of Philip Rennison (facing camera) accepting trade waste from builders

A former employee of waste management company Veolia Environnement has been ordered to pay £775 after being found guilty of illegal waste practices.

Earlier this month, Croydon Magistrates’ Court heard that whilst under the employ of Veolia, Phillip Rennison, 37, had been caught on camera illegally accepting trade waste from builders (who are legally obliged to pay for trade waste disposal).

The crime was discovered after council staff investigating the cause of flytipping on Oaks Road in Shirley (which reportedly costs the council ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds each year’ to clean up), set up ‘covert’ cameras to film activity in the area. However, they inadvertently recorded Rennison meeting with two builders and accepting waste from them, which was then loaded into his collection vehicle.

Following a council investigation into the discovery, made last year, Rennison was fired from his post for gross misconduct.

He has now been court ordered to pay a £500 fine, £250 costs and a victim surcharge of £25 for his crime.

A Veolia Environmental Services spokesperson said: "Taking private waste is illegal and is therefore considered to be gross misconduct. Any employee found guilty of accepting private waste will be subject to Veolia's disciplinary process and may also face criminal prosecution, so we hope this case acts a suitable deterrent."

Councillor Simon Hoar, Cabinet Member for Communit, Safety and Public Protection, added: "The strong message we want to send out from this case is how important it is for people to be responsible about the way they dispose of their waste.

“Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for people who are trying to dodge costs. If any member of the public witnesses suspicious behaviour of this nature they should tell the council about it so we can investigate and take action."

To counteract the ongoing problem of flytipping, Croydon Council is now investing £300,000 on ways to reduce the problem, including £100,000 to focus on the worst fifteen flytipping spots in Croydon.

This money will go towards:

• more enforcement patrols;
• new CCTV cameras
• ‘better signs’;
• new bins;
• security gates; and
• visits to local businesses.

The council says that the sites chosen for initial trials include ‘neighbourhood recycling sites, small shopping parades, private service roads and residential streets.’

Harsher penalties for waste crime

The news comes as magistrates are given new sentencing guidance for environmental offences, such as waste crime.

Released earlier today (26 February) by the Sentencing Council (SC), a division of the Ministry of Justice, the ‘Environmental Offences: Definitive Guideline’ encourages magistrates to make more use of the highest levels of fines for some of the more serious offences that come before the courts, so that offenders ‘are hit in the pocket as well as deterred from committing more crime’

The guidance has been issued after SC found there was a ‘lack of familiarity, particularly among magistrates’ with sentencing for these offences, a lack of standardised sentencing, and because some fines were deemed to be ‘too low’ and did not reflect the seriousness of the offences committed.

Coming into effect from 1 July 2014, the guidelines apply to offenders aged 18 and over and organisations sentenced on or after the implementation date. It relates to environmental offences including:

• the unauthorised dumping of waste (flytipping);
• waste handling or disposal offences where a company or individuals cause pollution or harm to people’s health, or the risk of it;
• breaches of environmental permits; and
• ‘nuisance offenders’, such as those handling waste in a way that produces excess noise, smoke, dust, or odours.

Read the ‘Environmental Offences: Definitive Guideline’ or find out more about the impacts of waste crime