Waste transfer failures lead to big fines
Waste management firms from around the UK are fined heavily after failing to complete waste tranfer notes accurately
Three North Yorkshire firms have been fined a total of £38,200 after failures to properly transfer waste resulted in 10 tonnes of food containing meat being dumped in a field where livestock grazed, potentially risking an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
In March this year, waste management firm FD Todd & Sons collected food waste from ready-meal manufacturer Pro-Pak Foods. It was disposed of at a farm owned by Coast to Coast Recycling, which told Harrogate Magistrates’ Court that it understood the waste to be vegetable matter only, when in fact it also contained pasta, pepperoni and luncheon meat.
FD Todd & Sons informed Environment Agency (EA) inspectors that Pro-Pak Foods had changed the contents of the waste without telling the company, while Pro-Pak Foods claimed the waste was supposed to be sent to landfill.
The EA told the court that the firms had failed to properly use waste transfer notes, with Pro-Pak foods not completing one at all and FD Todd & Sons failing to describe the waste accurately. These offences were compounded by the firms’ failing to check what the waste contained.
In a similar prosecution, Norwich Magistrates’ Court imposed maximum fines of £5,000 on two waste management firms after one wrongly described waste on its transfer note and the other attempted to transport it illegally to India.
The cases provide a timely reminder that all firms producing and managing waste need to provide accurate information on waste transfer notes following the recent introduction of the revised Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC).
“All businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure the waste they produce is stored, transported and described appropriately to prevent harm to the environment and human health,” said Sam Corp, head of regulation at the Environmental Services Association.