Waste Company Ordered To Pay Over £22,000
Thursday 29 June 2006
A Macclesfield waste transfer company has been fined £15,000 for dumping waste on land at Tidnock Wood, which is a Site of Biological Interest.
Henshaws Environmental Limited were fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £7,023 costs to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.
The company own a scrap metal licence and have a waste transfer station on Moss Lane in Macclesfield and also hold relevant registered waste carriers licences.
In this case, they dumped waste on land off Marton Road in Gawsworth that holds neither a pollution prevention control permit nor a waste management licence.
Following concerns expressed by Macclesfield Borough Council, Environment Agency officers Mike Hughes and Andy Jobson visited the site and found large amounts of construction and demolition waste.
When the officers returned to the site, he was told by the company and the farmer who rents the land that they were trying to improve and reclaim the land so that it could be farmed.
Under the waste regulations, a company can be exempt from a waste management licence if the waste consists of soil, rock, ash or sludge and is being used to improve or reclaim land for agricultural or ecological purposes.
However, Henshaws would not have been entitled to an exemption because the construction and demolition waste was contaminated with paper, wood, plastic and glass.
Companies can find out about their environmental responsibilities by contacting the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506 or visiting www.netregs.gov.uk. The site provides guidance on how to comply with environmental law as well as good advice on environmental practice.