A company based in Ramsbottom has today (3 June 2009) been fined a total of 7,000 GBP, for illegally depositing and storing waste, and ordered to pay costs of 2,900 GBP.

AWR Rent a Skip Ltd, and Mark Rogers, a director of the company pleaded guilty at Bury Magistrates to breaches of the Environmental Permitting regulations (England and Wales) 2007.

The court heard, that Environment Agency Officers visited the site after receiving a number of complaints.

The company had used a warehouse to store skip waste which they had collected in their course of their business. There was around 300 tonnes of waste stored in the skips both inside and outside the warehouse. The company did not have an environmental permit for storing waste at this site.

Despite agreeing to remove the waste from the site, the company continued to use the warehouse, in full knowledge that they were acting illegally.

Subsequently, the Environment Agency issued an enforcement notice to ensure that the waste was removed from the site. The company has fully complied with this notice, and has now submitted an application for an environmental permit for this site.

Gordon Whitaker, Environment Manager for Greater Manchester said, “In order to protect the environment and ensure the correct disposal of waste, companies handling, depositing and storing waste must have in place an environmental permit. By not complying with regulations, companies are acting illegally, they risk damaging the local environment, and are undercutting legitimate businesses. At this time of economic anxiety, we must ensure that a level playing field is maintained for all operators.”