Latvia stops illegal rubber & plastic waste imports

Riga – The Latvian state environmental service (SES), in cooperation with Polish authorities, has stopped the illegal import of plastic & rubber waste by a local company, the agency announced 18 June.

Over a three-week period between 25 May and 16 June, nearly 550 tonnes of plastic and rubber waste was imported from the UK by a company called SIA Why Recycle without prior approval, said a release by the environmental board of Semigallia region.

The SES said it is now taking measures to return the waste to its country of origin and will cover the costs from Why Recycle's financial security of €100,000.

Based in the central Latvian town of Jelgava, Why Recycle operates a plastic waste recycling plant and has a permit to sort or temporarily store municipal waste.

However, SES maintains that “the company does not have a permit to manage the imported [plastic & rubber] waste.”

The cargo's accompanying documents, SES added, contained “distorted and false information” identifying plastic waste as “poorly sorted mixture of municipal waste.”

SIA may not carry out any activities with the waste until further instructions from the SES.