11/01/2006 - A Cornwall waste processing company that sent
old wood and mattresses to a nearby farm to be illegally
burnt was today ordered to pay £5,200 in fines and
costs in a case brought by the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency was alerted by a police officer
on November 29, 2004 after he stopped a tractor and trailer
for a traffic offence. It contained waste wood and mattresses.
The driver said he was moving the waste from Chenoweths
waste transfer station at Ruan High Lanes, Truro, to a piece
of land near Veryan where he had been told to dump and burn
it.
On December 22, 2004 an Environment Agency officer went
to Trethennal Manor Farm, Portloe near Truro. In a field
there was a large burnt area with the remains of wood, at
least 20 sets of mattress springs, broken glass, a sink
and scrap metal. It was evident large scale burning of waste
had been going on for some time.
The landowner confirmed he had been paid by Chenoweths
to receive waste wood for several years. Some he re-used,
the rest he put in his wood burner or on the field to help
with burning farm waste. He was unaware that material other
than wood was going to the site.
Chenoweths admitted supplying wood to the farm, but claimed
the mattresses had ended up at the burning site after a
breakdown in management caused by staff sickness. Each load
had not been properly inspected before leaving the transfer
station.
The owners and operators, Aggregates and Minerals Limited,
of Charnwood Edge, Syston Road, Cossington, Leicestershire,
were today fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £1,700
costs by Camborne magistrates after pleading guilty to an
offence under the Environmental Protection Act 11000 of
depositing controlled waste on land at Trethennal Farm,
Portloe, Cornwall that did not have a waste management licence.
‘This company should have known better. Staff sickness
is not an excuse for breaking the law. Environmental laws
are there for very important reasons – to protect us and
our environment,’ said Redwynn Sterry for the Environment
Agency.
Members of the public can call the Environment Agency’s
free 24 hour hotline 0800 80 70 60 to report pollution incidents
including fly-tipping.
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