A woman who claimed
to be saving the environment has been sentenced
for stockpiling waste around Scarborough.
At York Crown Court
today (10 November), Louisa Smith was ordered
to carry out 120 hours’ work for the good
of the community after the judge told her
that, despite her good intentions, her “chaotic”
business had added to environmental problems.
Smith, 47, of the Mud
Hut, Whin Covert, East Ayton, had pleaded
guilty at an earlier hearing to four charges
of permitting environmental offences by
her company.
The court heard Smith
was a company director of Filey and Scarborough
Trust for Recycling Limited (FAST), which
has since ceased trading.
The company, of Wareham
Road, Eastfield, Scarborough, was incorporated
in November 2005 and its activities appear
to have started the following year.
Its business was described
as “recycling non-metal waste and scrap,
social work without accommodation and collection
and treatment of other waste”.
The court heard the
intention appeared to be to collect unwanted
items of all descriptions from domestic
and business premises for recycling or redistribution.
There appeared to be no discrimination about
the items collected, which included waste
cardboard, plastics, furniture, electrical
goods, car batteries and paint.
In May 2006, FAST began free cardboard collections
from Scalby School and some initial collections
were free, although the company began charging
for collection in January 2007. FAST advertised
in Yellow Pages under “Skip Hire”.
The court heard the
collection side of the business was developed
with little thought for the disposal and
recycling side, resulting in a large quantity
of waste being collected with nowhere for
it to go.
So it was piled up in
various locations in and around Scarborough.
The Environment Agency
first became involved in October 2006 after
a report that waste was being stored at
FAST’s site at Dunslow Court. An environment
officer who attended found the unit completely
full of waste and wrote to Smith warning
this operation was illegal.
The officer returned
in January 2007 with trading standards officers
and saw 30 large sacks of paper waste, some
of which had blown onto neighbouring land.
Smith was again warned
verbally and in writing but the following
month she and FAST leased more premises,
in Wareham Road, and proceeded to fill that
industrial unit too.
A surveillance operation
discovered large amounts of waste were being
processed at the Wareham Road site. Smith
was observed taking a day-to-day role in
the business.
From mid-September 2007,
FAST was charging households in the Scarborough
area to take away waste and in October 2007
Environment Agency officers discovered the
business had an additional unit at Dunslow
Court. All three units and Smith’s home
contained mixed waste, such as wood, furniture,
gas bottles, hand tools and electrical goods,
batteries, vehicle parts, toys, shredded
paper, pallets and paint tins. Only the
paint tins were stored under cover.
Environment officers
executed a search warrant at Dunslow Court
on 2 November 2007. They asked Smith if
FAST had any other sites where waste was
stored and she directed them to Cleveland
Road, where they found about 50 bin bags
with domestic waste, ranging from vinyl
records and white goods to mattresses and
Christmas decorations.
The Environment Agency
served FAST with notice in January 2008,
requiring the company to file the necessary
paperwork. No response was received.
Smith declined to attend
an interview with environment officers.
In mitigation, the court
heard Smith had started the business with
the best of intentions but while she saw
herself as in tune with the aims of the
Environment Agency, the authorities did
not see her business in the same way.
She was sentenced to
a community punishment order for 120 hours
but the judge made no order for prosecution
costs after hearing about Smith’s financial
circumstances.
Speaking after the case,
environmental crime officer Steve Williamson
said: “These offences were committed under
the pretext of a recycling business and
people thought they were helping the environment
by giving their waste to Louisa Smith.
“However, her actions
have blighted the Scarborough area, leaving
household and commercial waste stockpiled
at locations around the town.
“Recycling and reducing
waste is an important way to protect the
environment for future generations and I
would urge householders and businesses to
check the proper licences are in place for
any waste disposal or recycling businesses
they use.
“Louisa Smith chose
to ignore repeated advice from us about
how to run her operation legally and today’s
case demonstrates that we will not hesitate
to take action against anyone who flouts
the law and causes environmental harm.”
Smith was charged with
four offences:
1) Unlicensed keeping
of controlled waste, contrary to sections
33(1)(b), 33(6) and 157(1) of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000, that on 18 September
2007, being a director of the Filey and
Scarborough Trust for Recycling, consented
to, connived in or caused by neglect, the
keeping by the said trust of controlled
waste, namely commercial and household waste
including packaging and electrical waste,
on land at Unit 8, Wareham Road, Eastfield,
Scarborough other than in accordance with
a Waste Management Licence.
2) Unlicensed keeping
of controlled waste, contrary to sections
33(1)(b), 33(6) and 157(1) of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000, that on 16 October
2007, being a director of the Filey and
Scarborough Trust for Recycling, consented
to, contrived in or caused by neglect, the
keeping by the said trust of controlled
waste, namely commercial and household waste
including wood, packaging and furniture,
on land at Unit 8, Wareham Road, Eastfield,
Scarborough other than in accordance with
a Waste Management Licence.
3) Unlicensed keeping
of controlled waste, contrary to sections
33(1)(b), 33(6) and 157(1) of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000, that on 2 November
2007, being a director of the Filey and
Scarborough Trust for Recycling, consented
to, connived in or caused by neglect, the
keeping by the said trust of controlled
waste, namely commercial and household waste
including wood, packaging, furniture, electrical
goods, scrap metal and green waste on land
in a compound adjacent to Unit 2, Dunslow
Court, Eastfield, Scarborough other than
in accordance with a Waste Management Licence.
4) Unlicensed keeping
of controlled waste, contrary to sections
33(1)(b), 33(6) and 157(1) of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000, that on 6 November
2007, being a Director of the Filey and
Scarborough Trust for Recycling, consented
to, connived in or caused by neglect, the
keeping by the said trust of controlled
waste, namely commercial and household waste
including furniture, electrical goods, scrap
metal and textiles at Unit 4, Cleveland
Road, Scarborough other than in accordance
with a Waste Management Licence.
