Phil White
Associate Director, UK
Phil is a Chartered Waste Manager with over 25 years’ experience in the environment sector, including over 20 years in waste regulation, policy and consultancy. He has provided expert opinion in commercial & insurance disputes and civil & criminal matters since 2010, supported by technical and commercial knowledge and 8 years’ investigation and enforcement experience as a regulator with the Environment Agency. Phil advises both defence and prosecution teams.
Phil has acted as an independent expert in many prosecutions, disputes and in ‘pre-action’ matters, preparing expert reports in compliance with CPR requirements. He has experience in adjudications, arbitration, Crown Court cross-examination, tribunals, libel cases, and joint expert discussions. His criminal expert experience covers illegal waste shipment, illegal waste deposit, permit breaches, statutory duty of care offences, Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) fraud, and Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) matters, from nationally significant cases to matters resolved by Civil Sanctions. Phil’s opinion has supported beneficial outcomes in several cases, including the withdrawal of charges, settlement outcomes, successful adjudication outcomes, and successfully challenging enforcement actions (e.g. from prosecution to enforcement undertaking).
Phil’s expert witness advice is underpinned by experience in providing strategic and operational advice, including waste treatment infrastructure and technology selection and performance; technical, commercial, and regulatory due diligence assessments; regulatory compliance, permitting and good practice; waste infrastructure procurement; and waste facility construction and operations monitoring. Phil’s experience enables him to advise across a comprehensive range of waste types, recovered materials and processing technologies, including mechanical sorting, organic waste recovery, integrated mechanical-biological treatment, secondary raw material production, and energy from waste thermal treatment.
As an Environmental Agency (EA) officer in policy and operational roles, Phil developed an in-depth working knowledge of waste policy and legislation, including through site inspections, audits and enforcement. As prosecuting officer in several cases, notably a complex two-year joint EA-HSE investigation into a nationally significant incident and breaches, Phil gained experience in investigations, statement taking, evidential requirements and PACE procedures, and interviews under caution.
