Record Scottish waste penalty shows high fines becoming normal in environmental cases, says expert

Oran Environmental Solutions (OES Ltd) was fined £12,000 for three breaches of the 1990 Environmental Permitting Act as well as given a £345,558.43 confiscation order under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), reflecting the costs it avoided through its illegal activity. The confiscation order is the largest ever issued for an environmental offence in Scotland, according to regulator the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

Environmental law expert Claire Gregory of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the high penalty showed that fines for environmental offences were on the increase across the UK.

Since 1 July 2014, courts in England and Wales have had to take into account a new sentencing guideline when setting fines for environmental offences, resulting in higher fines for the largest businesses and most persistent environmental offences. The guideline is designed to establish a consistent approach to the sentencing of these offences, and sets out a range of appropriate fines based on the size of the business and the seriousness of the offence. It also allows courts to consider a wider range of relevant factors when setting the level of fine, including the offender's financial circumstances.

OES Ltd was issued with two enforcement notices by SEPA in May 2013, after the regulator discovered during an inspection that its site at Kilbagie Mill, Alloa was at capacity and the company had begun using an unlicensed area of its site to store additional waste. SEPA partially suspended the company's waste management licence after it failed to comply with these notices, which had required it to stop accepting waste and also to remove the backlog of stockpiled waste.

The regulator referred the case to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration for prosecution after OES Ltd continued to ignore enforcement action and following numerous complaints from local residents. Of particular concern was the site's potential impact on the local environment, including an increase in vermin, flies and birds at the site. The company pled guilty to charges of storing controlled waste without a licence, failing to remove waste following enforcement action by SEPA and not taking adequate pest control measures.

SEPA executive director Calum MacDonald said that the size of the confiscation order and additional fine in this case sent out a "clear and unequivocal message that environmental crime will not be tolerated and that SEPA will with its partners pursue those who seek to profit from waste crime".

"Compliance within the waste industry is non-negotiable and we will continue to take effective and proportionate action as required to tackle non-compliant waste operators," he said. "The confiscation order reflects the costs avoided by the company in undertaking these illegal activities and is the result of close collaborative working arrangements between SEPA and the Crown Office."