New offences this month:
Oxfordshire man guilty of running illegal waste operation
Geoffrey Parker from Oxfordshire has been found guilty of committing two environmental offences. He pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates Court to holding waste illegally.
Environment Agency officers discovered illegal waste in over 40 skips which were scattered along the approaching lane to the site. In the yard area at the entrance to the site, environment officers saw a large amount of general household clearance type waste on a concrete pad, with more waste stacked up behind. Hazardous materials were also seen including car batteries, leaking paint pots and containers with chemicals in skips.
The firm was instructed to reduce the size of the pile, but it failed to meet the deadline, blaming staff illness.
The Environment Agency suspended the company’s permit in September, preventing it from bringing any more wood on to the site. This was later reinstated when the company agreed to reduce stocks on site.
A compliance visit found that all waste wood stacks had increased in size, and stacks that had previously been compliant had been combined to form larger piles.
The firm had previously committed offences.
Penalty
Mr Parker received a 4-month custodial sentence suspended for 1 year and was ordered to pay over £7,600. The Magistrates also made a remediation order (under Regulation 44 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010) which requires the removal of all waste from the farm and Cox’s Lane by the end of January 2017.
Teesside wood recycling firm fined for environmental permitting offences
UK Wood Recycling Ltd admitted keeping waste wood in a way likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health. The company had significantly exceeded the maximum sizes stated for wood piles and lacked the recommended firebreaks as specified in guidance from the Environment Agency. This was the reason as to why a fire in 2013 had previously occurred.
BRE Global said the way the company had stored the wood piles were risky and made spontaneous combustion highly likely.
Penalty
UK Wood Recycling Ltd were fined £72,000, ordered to pay costs of £71,335, and a victim surcharge of £120.
Company fined after chemical leak at Sunderland site
Tradebe Solvent Recycling Ltd has pleaded guilty to two offences of failing to comply with conditions under its environmental permit. Breaches resulted in a leak affecting groundwater when a hose was left fitted to a fixed storage tanker.
The company reported the spill immediately to the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency found that the leak of 4000 litres of isopropyl alcohol, which had affected groundwater, was a result of deficient management systems and operating procedures. The court heard that Tradebe Solvent Recycling Ltd had not formally inspected pipes and operating procedures for the transfer of liquid chemicals were inadequate.
Penalty
The company was fined £27,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,960.
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