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Waste & Recycling August 29, 2016 12:30:01 PM

Alberta recycling company faces hefty fines on wilful violation of state laws

Carolina Curiel
ScrapMonster Author
An Alberta recycling firm and its two owners has been slapped with hefty fine for carrying out illegal activity for several years.

Alberta recycling company faces hefty fines on wilful violation of state laws

CALGARY (Scrap Monster): An Alberta recycling firm and its two owners has been slapped with hefty fine for carrying out illegal activity for several years. Alberta Reclaim and Recycling and its owners Johnny Ha and Shawn Diep were fined $871,928 for transporting beverage containers from outside the province to be reimbursed through Alberta’s bottle deposit program.

The Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) had initially issued a penalty of $844,778. This included $75,000 administrative penalty and an economic benefit assessment of $769,778. The company and its owners appealed the fine, claiming that there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude the cans entered the Alberta beverage container recycling system. However, the department’s decision was upheld by the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board last week. Meantime, the province rectified some errors made in the earlier calculation, thus making the total payable fine to $871,928, inclusive of $75,000 in administrative penalty and the remaining $800,000 fine for indulging in illegal activity over several years. The penalty was issued for violating the province’s Beverage Container Recycling Regulation under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

The company was charged with 15 violations of provincial laws, including 13 counts of illegal shipment from Yukon, operating the Edmonton bottle depot without necessary permit and failing to comply with the terms and conditions of its issued permit.

According to AEP, the company transported nearly 8 million beverage container from Yukon territories to the province of Alberta. The beverage containers were purchased from Raven Recycling and shipped to a warehouse in Edmonton. The large bales were later disassembled, sorted and brought to Andrew bottle depot in Edmonton, Alberta to be cashed in through the province’s bottle deposit program. The depot, by way of obtaining refunds for beverage containers, was found to have violated the terms and conditions of the permit issued to it. AEP further noted that Alberta Reclaim and Recycling Company received significant economic benefit by importing beverage containers into Alberta from Yukon.

The Alberta Environment Appeals Board revealed that about 738,609 pounds of crushed and baled beverage containers were delivered to the warehouse from a recycling facility in the Yukon Territory during the period between January 2011 and January 2013. The company is believed to have transported over 8.3 million beverage containers to be introduced into the deposit refund system between January 2012 and January 2013. Also, the number of containers processed through the Alberta recycling company increased more than ten-fold over the previous year.

The province noted that the company had received more than $1 million by way of deposit refunds and handling fees through Alberta’s container refund system. Gilbert Van Nes, general counsel for the appeal board noted that the decision on the case sends a strong message to all attempting illegal practices to earn quick money. If the fraud had not been determined, it could have ended up bankrupting the province’s beverage container refund system.

The company management was not available for a comment.

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