HAZARDOUS WASTE:A PHARMACEUTICAL company and one of its contractors have been fined €40,000 each at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges relating to their waste management practices.
AHP Manufacturing BV trading as Wyeth Medica Ireland pleaded guilty through their financial director, Tim Brosnan, to two counts that they disposed of or recovered waste materials, namely rinse water containing active ingredient medroxyprogestrone acetate (MPA), by means of Cara Environmental Technology, which was not an agreed hazardous waste contractor, on September 18th, 2000 and November 28th, 2001.
Wyeth Medica Ireland, Newbridge, Co Kildare, further pleaded guilty to shipping waste out of the State without a certificate on April 26th, 2001 and, being the consignors of waste, in the course of transferring hazardous waste engaged an agent who mixed hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste on May 15th, 2001.
Dublin-based Cara Environmental Technology Ltd pleaded guilty to four counts of shipping waste out of the State without a certificate.
Judge Patricia Ryan said the prosecution had accepted at all times that Wyeth Medica Ireland believed its waste was being treated properly by Bioland, a sugar waste processor in Belgium which makes glucose syrup, but that the medical company acknowledged that it failed to take further steps in the matter.
“There has been strenuous efforts made by Wyeth Medica since these offences occurred and they haven’t reoccurred, and Bioland acted in a criminal fashion in order to make money,” said Judge Ryan.
Det Garda Philip Ryan told Tom O’Connell, prosecuting, that Wyeth Medica Ireland had engaged Cara Environmental Technology Ltd to dispose of their hazardous waste material, namely sugar water which contained traces of MPA, a synthetic version of Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Cara Environmental Technology Ltd had classified the waste as green for non-hazardous waste instead of amber or red for hazardous waste, and therefore could move the waste between states without regulation or notification.
Det Ryan confirmed that Cara were not agreed hazardous waste contractors under an Environmental Protection Agency licence.
Cara had suggested to Wyeth that Bioland would dispose of the waste, and samples of the waste material was provided by Wyeth to Cara for Bioland to test.
“By July 2000, Wyeth had received verbal confirmation from Cara that Bioland could accept the MPA sugar water waste,” Det Ryan said.
Mr O’Connell accepted that Wyeth believed the waste would be properly treated and disposed of in Belgium.
Shane Murphy SC, defending Wyeth, said representatives of Wyeth and Cara sought a copy of the licence from Bioland to state that company could accept hazardous waste.
“But this was not provided, although Bioland had said they did have one – but both companies never followed it up,” explained Mr Murphy.
“It was an oversight by personnel in Wyeth and Cara, and unknown to Wyeth the persons running Bioland were not carrying out proper procedures,” he said.
Mr Murphy told the court that criminal proceedings took place in Belgium in June against the two brothers who own Bioland, as traces of a banned growth hormone, MPA, were found at two soft drink factories and in pig feed in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
The hormone was part of a shipment of medical waste from Ireland which Bioland had used as glucose syrup, which was not the intended purpose for it.
Det Ryan agreed with Mr O’Connell that Bioland had deceived Cara and Wyeth and agreed that Wyeth had honestly believed the waste was being treated properly by Bioland.
Wyeth Medica Ireland agreed to pay €70,000 as a contribution to the prosecution costs, while Cara Environmental Technologies Limited agreed to pay €50,000 costs.