Hauliers fined £10,000 each for burning waste
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Grantscope and RG Wastecare have each been fined for breaching their environmental permits
By Roger Brown
LINKED SKIP HIRE hauliers Grantscope and RG Wastecare have each been ined £10,000 for breaching their environmental permit by repeatedly burning mixed waste at a site in South Yorkshire.
In a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency, Barnsley Magistrates’ Court was told how in March 2010, agency oficers investigated reported burnings in the Boulder Bridge Lane area of the town from nearby residents.
Oficers witnessed three or four skips of waste alight at a site where Grantscope has an environmental permit.
The ires were accompanied by booming explosions, which generated smoke that could be seen 600m away.
Shortly afterwards, oficers saw an HGV leaving the facility that was subsequently traced to John Clifford, an employee of RG Wastecare.
A total of three more ires were witnessed between March and April, involving the same lorry, with oficers witnessing an orange glow, followed by lames.
In April 2010, Environment Agency (EA) oficers worked with police on a surveillance operation at the site. The same vehicle was seen entering the site at midnight and almost immediately a ire started, 7m wide and about 6m to 9m in height.
Oficers went to the gates of the site, where Clifford was arrested and taken back to Barnsley police station.
It took ire oficers two hours to extinguish the blaze.
During interview, Clifford admitted starting the ire but claimed he was acting on the orders of Dean Ryder – a director of both companies.
Craig Burman, prosecuting for the agency, told the court how the permit prohibited burning of any sort.
Both Grantscope and RG Wastecare ran skip hire services that operated from the same premises sorting out mixed waste brought back in the skips.
The companies shared the same two directors, and all of the activities carried out by Grantscope were undertaken by RG Wastecare and its staff.
Sentencing, District Judge Driver said that she was satisied that the ires were deliberately lit and inancially motivated. The Judge also said efforts had been made to avoid the detection of the ires.
She added that breaches of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007, the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 had all taken place. Ryder was ined £5,000, while Clifford was ordered to pay £200.
Both the irms, director and employee were ordered to pay a total of £15,076 in costs to the EA EA oficer Brad Haystead says: “Boulder Bridge continues to be a high priority area for the EA. Our oficers spend a lot of time and effort working with operators and partners to improve the environment and minimise impact on the local community, but in cases like this where there is deliberate serious offending we’ll use our enforcement powers to take action.”
Stop burning waste
Courts are continuing to come down hard on operators who deliberately and illegally burn waste for financial gain.