UK Man Sentenced to 16 Months in Jail for Illegal Asbestos Dumping
Christopher Garrett is serving a 32-month sentence, half of it to be spent in jail, after he was convicted of dumping about 12,000 tons of construction and demolition waste, including asbestos, on a floodplain in Devon in southwestern England.
The Environment Agency stated Garrett, 64 years old, is considered the “worst offender” of this type of crime in Devon and Cornwall, given the quantity of asbestos involved. He was sentenced in July.
Garrett Ran a Private, Illegal Toxic Waste Dump
He pleaded guilty to running an unpermitted waste facility and disposing of asbestos in a way that was likely to harm human health or the environment. Garret was also ordered to pay more than £200,000 (about $258,000), according to Circular, a UK publication for resource and waste professionals, which was confiscated because it was considered proceeds from a crime.
Garrett repeatedly accepted waste onto his property despite a prior prosecution and multiple warnings from the area’s environment agency. At the sentencing, Judge Adkin stated the offenses were “industrial scale environmental contamination committed by an individual.”
Millions in Income for Thousands of Tons of Toxic Waste
Prosecutors stated that:
- From July 2018 to May 2022, about 12,000 tons of controlled waste (construction and demolition waste) were dumped on land considered part of a floodplain at Garrett’s home, along the side of a highway. That’s the equivalent of about 1,500 truckloads of waste
- He burned some of it and buried a large amount of asbestos-containing materials, creating a risk to human health and the environment
- Garrett received hundreds of thousands of pounds to allow illegal dumping on his property. Remediation cost could be at least £2.5 million ($3.175 million). It’s estimated Garret made about £2.88 million ($3.6 million) more than those costs
Garrett received a two-year suspended prison sentence in 2016 for the same offense—allowing asbestos waste disposal at his site without a permit. Three years later, the Environment Agency learned he was doing it again, including during his suspended sentence.
Their officers visited the site several times, including one that required a police escort due to Garrett’s hostility. Garrett was prosecuted in 2022 for his behavior towards Environment Agency officers.
In May 2022, a search warrant was issued, and heavy machinery assisted in investigating and searching Garrett’s property. Bags of asbestos were found buried, and the site was covered with asbestos fibers. What will happen to the site has yet to be determined.
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