Ignored Environment Agency advice

Skips full of waste, including asbestos, were stored on two separate sites without a permit and today (Tues) the company responsible, Heard Ltd was fined 12,000GBP and ordered to pay full costs of 6252GBP.

Harlow Magistrates’ Court was told the offences were not isolated but were part of the normal system of work for the company.

The company had been advised by the Environment Agency several times about the need for an environmental permit or for the site to be cleared, the court was told.

‘There is no suggestion that the activities would have ceased but for the intervention of the prosecution.’ Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald told the court.

She said Heard was slow to remove the inappropriate waste from a site in Main Road, Boreham and even after the company had been interviewed under caution, more waste was found at another site in Great Baddow.

Among the waste stored in open skips at the Cock Inn, Main Road, Boreham was asbestos sheeting and double-bagged asbestos.

Mrs McDonald told the court that Environment Agency officers first went to the site on 13 August last year and after several visits had asked for the site to be cleared. Mr James Heard was interviewed under caution on 1 October when he said he thought it was OK to store full skips on un-permitted land.

Even though officers had explained the rules, when they went on 6 November to a second site run by Heard Ltd at Great Mascalls Farm in Great Baddow, they found several skips of waste stored on the site and in two of them were bagged or bonded asbestos. Mr Heard was told to dispose of the waste immediately.

When officers returned to the Main Road site more than two weeks later there were several empty skips and two full ones on the site. Mr Heard later said the waste in them had been fly-tipped. At Great Mascalls Farm all waste had been removed.

Mr Heard was interviewed under caution again. He told officers he was unaware that some of the skips at the farm contained asbestos and assumed they were empty.

Mrs McDonald told magistrates that during the investigation 16 samples were taken. All except three contained chrysotile asbestos.*

After the hearing Environment Agency officer Tim Poulding said: ‘We gave the company plenty of time to dispose of the waste that was illegally stored at both sites but when it wasn’t removed we had to prosecute.

‘Although there has been no actual harm to the environment there was a visual impact on the countryside and there are also risks involved with handling asbestos. Handling asbestos can cause harm to human health.

‘Waste operators should be mindful of the rules of handling waste, and in particular asbestos, and should take care to store and dispose of it legally.’