Prosecution for illegal waste disposal operation in Cornwall
Leslie Allen, owner of Les Allen Waste Disposal Services, has been fined for the illegal storage and treatment of waste at a site near Penzance. This waste included asbestos, which was found not to have been stored securely.
The site in Perranuthnoe had been used to illegally process waste from various commercial and domestic sources, including hazardous waste. These activities require an environmental permit from the Environment Agency.
Truro Crown Court heard that the defendant had operated without an environmental permit despite receiving guidance from the Environment Agency and assuring the organisation’s officers a permit would be applied for.
An Environment Agency investigation was launched in 2014 as the company was suspected to still be operating illegally. The investigation found that the activities remained ongoing.
The investigation also found that the transfer of waste was often not recorded and when it was, the records were either inadequate or misleading. For example, waste recorded as being taken from a customer direct to an approved site had actually been transported to Perranuthnoe for sorting before being taken to various sites.
On 5 February 2016, the Environment Agency found that the illegal waste operation continued despite Leslie Allen having been interviewed under caution and giving an assurance he would stop. The business was also operating a crusher and swing shovel on land near Sunnyvale Farm, Rosudgeon, Penzance and treating mixed construction and demolition waste to raise a ground level without an Environment Agency authorisation.
Breach and Penalty
In a case brought by the Environment Agency, Leslie Allen was prosecuted operating two waste operations without an environmental permit under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. Leslie Allen was ordered to pay a total of £40,000 in fines with £14,200 costs and £25,772 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Leslie Allen was warned that failure to pay would result in a nine month prison sentence.
The site manager was also prosecuted and fined £4,000 for the same offences, with £2,000 in costs.
Mismanagement of waste sites leads to custodial sentence
Barry Kilroe, shareholder and director of J25 Recycling Ltd, Recovered Fuels Shipping Ltd and Asset and Land Group Ltd, has received a custodial sentence following waste offences at three sites.
The Court heard that excessive amounts of waste had been imported to the three sites, breaching the environmental permits held. The defendants had also failed to comply with enforcement and suspension notices issued by the Environment Agency.
Offences had occurred at the three sites:
- At the J25 Recycling Ltd site in Bredbury, Stockport, a fire broke out that lasted for 41 days. The management of the site increased the impacts of the fire on the local community and environment. The fire resulted in the closure of the M60 Motorway and 3 weeks of disruption. A nearby river was polluted by the fire-fighting water run-off.
- At the Recovered Fuels Shipping Ltd site in Salford, a fire also broke out. This led to the closure of the railway line in Salford, local roads and main routes into Manchester City Centre. Again, the poor management of the site was found to have contributed to the impacts of the fire, which lasted for 19 days. Severe disruption was experienced by local residents and businesses, with impacts from smoke and ash. Barry Kilroe also failed to remove the waste following the fire, leaving the landowner to remove more than 14,000 tonnes of material.
- Modelling by the Environment Agency found that waste transferred to Asset and Land Group Ltd’s site in Warrington Docks presented a significant fire risk. An incident at the site, which is adjacent to the ship canal and West Coast Railway would have posed an unacceptable impact on industry and transport infrastructure in the area. The site presented a significant financial impact to the landowner, who now has to pay to clear the site which has an estimate of 75,000 tonnes of waste to clear with a cost in excess of £10 million to send to landfill.
Penalties
Barry Kilroe, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the unlawful operation of the waste sites. Mr Kilroe has also been disqualified from being a company director for six years.
Transport Manager and Company Director, Jane Williams was fined a total of £500 and Richard James Davies, Financial Director, was given a conditional discharge for 12 months.
Illegal waste site and exporter sentenced
A company director and his company have been sentenced for the operation of an illegal waste site. A third defendant, who had operated the site, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to running the illegal operation.
Environment Agency investigators attended the site in Norwich in August 2015 and found excessive quantities of poorly stored mattresses and mattress textiles, presenting a serious risk to the environment. The fire service was also concerned about the risk of fire.
Investigators found that almost 100 times more waste was held than the registered waste management exemption for the site allowed.
During investigations, Mark Ian Quinsey, the operator of the site, stated that he had found a company in Egypt which would take the fabric for recycling but there was a problem with Egyptian customs so he had to store the material until he found another outlet, which he was unable to find.
An enforcement notice issued against the site requesting the removal of waste had only been partly complied with.
The company director of Salhouse Norwich Ltd, Mark Paul Stone, denied knowing that the waste site, off Rice Way on Salhouse Industrial Estate in Norwich, run by their tenant, Quinsey, was illegal. Stone told investigators that Quinsey had said he had relevant permissions to carry out the waste operation. No checks were made to ensure these permissions were in place.
The Environment Agency also approached Salhouse Norwich Ltd and Stone, who were advised to clear the site. An action plan for the removal of the waste was requested, but the waste remains on site.
Penalty
At Norwich Magistrates Court, Mark Paul Stone, and his company, Salhouse Norwich Ltd, were found guilty of allowing an illegal waste site to operate from a site it owned. The defendants are to be sentenced in May.
Mark Ian Quinsey had previously pleaded guilty to operating a waste facility without a permit, failing to comply with an enforcement notice and exporting waste to Egypt without the appropriate permissions in place. He was sentenced to a total of 20 weeks custody which has been suspended for 18 months, 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay a contribution to costs of £720. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £115.
Breaches
Mark Ian Quinsey pleaded guilty to breaching section 59(1)(a) and 59(5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990:
- section 59(1)(a) permits notices to be served requiring the removal of waste deposited in or on any land in contravention of or without a suitable environmental permit.
- Section 59(5) makes persons failing to comply with any notice issued under section 59(1) liable for fines.
Mark Ian Quinsey also pleaded guilty to breaching Article 37 of the European Waste Shipment Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 for the transport of waste textiles to Egypt, a country to which the OECD decision does not apply as listed in the Annex to EC Commission Regulation 1418/2007 (concerning the export for recovery of certain waste). This was contrary to Regulation 23A(2) and 58 of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007:
- Regulation 23A(2) makes it an offence to transport waste destined for any country listed in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1418/2007 (a country to which the OECD Decision does not apply) if this is done in breach of this Regulation.
- Regulation 58 makes persons committing offences under these regulations liable to fines on summary conviction or in relation to conviction on indictment, a fine or imprisonment within the limits stated.
Mark Ian Quinsey pleaded guilty to, and Mark Ian Stone and Salhouse Norwich Ltd were found guilty of breaching Regulation 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010:
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