You rarely think about big cash when you see the local garbage truck drive by. But that's just you. Business owners and government experts know about the crazy amounts of money spent daily on waste-related services. What's even more shocking are some jaw-dropping fines issued for not collected or incorrectly dumped trash worldwide. Next cases will help you figure out how precious rubbish could be sometimes and will give you a new meaning of the phrase "trash to treasure".
$45 Million Penalty For Italy
About 6 months ago, the European country was charged with a record-breaking fine of forty million euro (roughly USD $45 million). The reason behind the court's judgment – bad or no management of more than 100 landfills, including completely illegal ones. There's everything you can think of in this case – business owners, government interests, and even mafia bosses. The nature of waste in question only adds to the colorful mix – it ranged from regular organic and domestic rubbish to toxic and other hazardous materials. The country wasn't even able to provide essential details regarding the total amount of the waste - such a mess.
Chinese Companies Fined $26 Million
The most populous country on Earth comes next in the countdown. What did China do wrong, you ask? Well, should be more than one thing. But in this particular situation it's water pollution. And to be more specific – an enormous contamination of rivers and lakes caused by six local businesses, brands not cited. According to a government spokesperson, currently a tremendous 70 percent of the waters in the country are polluted – a scary fact predicted by environmental experts long, long time ago.
Red Bull Was Charged As Well
The popular energy drink brand broke some waste management regulations in the period between 2000 and 2006 – and had to break the bank, too. The company paid more than $400 000 in fines for not recycling packaging junk the proper way. But the Bull is not alone – more and more large companies worldwide fail to meet the requirements and reuse or recycle packaging in accordance with local environmental acts. Unlawful export of rubbish is another bad practice often associated with large businesses.
Australian Waste Company Ordered To Pay $300 000
This is a story with a twist because it involves a fatal car accident that happened Down Under. The tipper truck (as they call rubbish removal vehicles in Australia) wasn't maintained properly and as a result the truck's brakes failed while on the road. The big machine crashed into a van and the 70+ years old driver later died. The final judgment of the court was a whopping penalty worth more than $300 000 issued to the waste management service provider. As you can see, junk can get expensive in many unexpected ways.
Same Money, Different Country
The last example of record-breaking waste penalty comes from Scotland where another recycling company got fined a similar amount – 200 000 pounds, which is somewhere around the $300 000 mark. The sins here were many and included collection of special wastes without having the proper accreditation and transportation of electronic waste and rubber tire to the wrong dumps. There were also problems with household rubbish producing the so-called landfill gas.
So, next time you see the garbage truck - be sure to think about real big money.
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