William Stewart admitted breaking the Environmental Protection Act by keeping controlled waste in the form of end of life vehicles — cars which are too old or damaged to be used — when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court this week.

The 60-year-old, who runs a scrap yard from Hawkhead House Farm, in Paisley, pleaded guilty to keeping the vehicles on his land between December 13, 2012, and March 25, 2014, without having a Waste Management License.

After Stewart held his hands up to the crime Sheriff Robert Fife was told that there was a Proceeds of Crime case against him.

Prosecutors say he made over £1.2million through “criminal conduct.” They claim that he pocketed £1,212,671 by operating as a scrap dealer without the relevant paperwork in place.

And they have launched a confiscation order against him in a bid to take £64,163 off him, which they say is “the recoverable amount” - what he has left.

After saying that the figures involved were “serious sums of money”, Sheriff Fife set a confiscation hearing for June 4.

He released Stewart on bail and deferred sentence on him until the same date.

When Stewart admitted his guilt this week when prosecutors dropped a second alleged breach of the Environment Protection Act.

Stewart had been accused of failing to remove all the vehicles from his land in December 2013 after being requested to do so by the Environmental Protection Agency in October that year.

His not guilty plea to that charge was accepted.

Every year, end-of-life vehicles generate between seven and eight million tonnes of waste in the European Union which should be managed correctly.

Protocols on how to deal with dismantling and storing end of life vehicles are in place to try and make the process more environmentally friendly.

As well as setting clear, quantified targets for reuse, recycling and recovery of the vehicles and their components, it also pushes producers to manufacture new vehicles without hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium.