A SCRAP metal dealer has kept its licence despite being fined £400,000 for illegal dumping of waste.

European Metal Recycling Limited (EMR) operates as a scrap dealer at Station Road, East Tilbury and 13-19 Berth, Tilbury Docks. The company applied to renew it’s licence but under current regulations had to reveal a conviction.

The company was fined after depositing controlled waste in Stowey Quarry, Somerset in May 2016 and a confiscation order of £32,958 was also made.

The company was then notified it’s licence renewal application was likely to be refused.

However, at a licensing sub-committee meeting the company won a reprieve after explaining the offence had been an error.

A representative of EMR said: “The prosecution that has been referred to in 2021 arose as the result of a mistake. It wasn’t a deliberate act and the judge who sentenced EMR acknowledged that in his sentencing comments.

“EMR has an otherwise excellent compliance record. Prior to this prosecution EMR had no convictions for any environmental offences in the previous 15 years and it hasn’t had any prosecutions since that date. This is not an insignificant achievement in view of the volume of waste that it handles. In the years 2017 to 2020 EMR sent, on average, 377,000 tonnes of waste to landfill so we do handle very significant quantities of waste.”

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The spokesman added: “The judge also accepted that EMR’s compliance record would indicate that it does have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with the regulatory regime.

"The incident which gave rise to the prosecution took place in 2016 seven years ago. Since that time EMR has made significant improvements to its policies and procedures to ensure as far as possible that such an incident doesn’t happen again.

"EMR is a significant employer in the Thurrock area and invest in training and development for its employees there.

"The Tilbury docks site is a major site for the export of recycled steel in the south east of England and is critical to the UK’s desire to increase recycling and reduce carbon emissions.

“EMR is in the process of implanting a £9million investment in Tilbury Docks which is a major commitment to the Thurrock area.”

The licence was granted after the committee acknowledged the offence had been an “administrative error”.