Waste crime: flytipper fined
A man has been convicted after cameras caught him dumping several tipper-truck loads of waste in north London.
John Steven McDonagh was filmed discarding mixed waste, including a fridge freezer and construction materials on both a public road and private land in Edmonton between January and February 2018.
McDonagh used a distinctive Ford Transit tipper van to carry out the crimes. Despite the vehicle not having registration plates, the Environment Agency still managed to track him down as part of the investigation.
Penalty
McDonagh pleaded guilty to committing waste offences and was fined £400, with costs of £260 and a victim surcharge of £40.
Anglian Water receives large fine for sewage pollution
Anglian Water has received a six-figure fine after it was found that negligence and maintenance failures led to the pollution of the Grendon Brook in Northamptonshire.
The pollution occurred over 2 days in August 2016, when at least a kilometre and a half of Grendon Brook was contaminated with sewage. Pollution was caused by various failures at the pumping station at the Yardley Hastings sewage plant. This station takes in raw sewage and transfers it to the main site for treatment. The pumps became air-locked and stopped working, causing sewage to back up in the storage tank. This tank overfilled and discharged into the nearby brook. Alarms which should have alerted staff to the problem also failed to sound.
The company’s environmental permit only allowed the site to discharge into the brook in storm conditions or in an emergency, neither of which applied at the time of the incident.
The permit required Anglian Water to maintain a 24-hour alarm system in case the pumping station failed or broke down, and a separate alarm to alert staff when the emergency sewage storage tank overflowed into the watercourse. Although an alarm was triggered indicating there was no flow from the pumping station to the main sewage works, this was mistakenly closed down without being resolved.
Testing of the Brook found levels of ammonia were 20 times higher downstream of the pumping station, enough to be extremely toxic to fish, invertebrates and other aquatic life.
Breaches
Anglian Water pleaded guilty to breaching the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 and the Water Resources Act 1991.
Penalty
Anglian Water was fined £146,000 and ordered to pay £10,676 in costs.
Co Tyrone man convicted of multiple waste offences
A man has been charged with the unlawful deposit, keeping and treating of waste and waste pollution offences in Dungannon, County Tyrone in 2019.
On 5 November 2015, Northern Ireland Environment Agency officers discovered a large quantity of baled waste on a farmyard. Following this, five intrusive surveys identified in excess of 5,300 tonnes of controlled waste deposited and buried throughout the farm. Some of this waste had also been burnt.
The waste identified included domestic, commercial and industrial waste; comprising of food packaging waste, shredded plastics, crushed glass waste, mixed household waste, metals, tyres, shredded and flaked plastics and green waste. The waste had been processed and baled prior to arriving at this rural site.
Breaches
Stephen O’Neill pleaded guilty to five charges under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, concerning breaches of three articles:
- Article 4(1)(a) prohibits the deposit of controlled waste, or knowingly causing or permitting these deposits in or on any land unless a waste management licence is in place and this is being complied with.
- Article 4(1)(b) prohibits treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste, or knowingly causing or permitting controlled waste to be treated, kept or disposed of in or on any land or by means of any mobile plant.
- Article 4(1)(c) prohibits treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.
Penalty
Stephen O’Neill was sentenced to 240 hours community service.
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