Trial begins in UK’s biggest ever WEEE export case Seven defendants – four individuals and three companies – are scheduled to appear at Basildon Crown Court in Essex in a case being heard by His Honour Judge Black.

A further seven defendants – five individuals and two companies – are being tried separately in relation to the same investigation once the first trial has concluded. The charges have been brought under regulations restricting the shipment of waste to non-OECD countries Two court hearings have already been held in the lead-up to today’s trial, during which it emerged that the defendants were facing charges relating to 11 containers of hazardous waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) being exported to Nigeria, containing a total of 158 tonnes of material.

The charges have been brought under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Shipment Regulation 2006, which restricts the shipment of waste materials to non-OECD countries. The seven defendants set to appear in court today, as listed on the Courts Service website, are:

• Godwin C Ezeemo; • Reliance Export Limited; • BJ Electronics (UK) Ltd; • Nnamdi C Ezechuwu; • Joe Benson; • Orient Export Limited; • Chika Ezeemo.

Today’s trial marks the culmination of an Environment Agency investigation, ‘Operation Boron’, which began in mid-2008. In October 2010 it emerged that the regulatory body was taking action against nine individuals (see letsrecycle.com story). A court hearing was held in January 2011, when details of the charges were revealed (see letsrecycle.com story ), before a hearing in April 2011 saw a date for this full trial set for last month (October 17) (see letsrecycle.com story) – this was later put back to today for unspecified reasons. Last month, the Environment Agency’s recently-appointed head of waste and illegals, Mat Crocker, confirmed illegal WEEE exports were a priority area for the Agency as it seeks to tackle waste crime (see letsrecycle.com story).

By Nick Mann