The Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations are designed to ensure that such sites that deal with hazardous waste are run in a manner that does not present a risk of pollution to the environment.
Biffa Waste Services Limited which operates a hazardous waste installation at Wednesbury Waste Management Resource Centre, Potters Lane, Wednesbury, was sentenced today in relation to three charges of poor storage of containerised hazardous wastes and inadequate management of third party contractors.
Today, at West Bromwich Magistrates’ Court, the company was fined 60,000 GBP and ordered to pay 11,500 GBP in costs, along with a 15 GBP victim surcharge. The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000.
For the Environment Agency, Counsel Barry Berlin told the court that Biffa Waste Services Limited held a Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit (now an Environmental Permit) which authorises the treatment and transfer of hazardous wastes at their site in Wednesbury. They are obliged to follow their permit conditions which include incorporated Best Available Techniques (BAT) in the form of the Environment Agency’s guidance to the waste treatment sector.
The first incident occurred on 23 November 2006. A contractor, for KPH Environmental, working on Biffa’s Wednesbury site, carried out work on a tank which resulted in the partial collapse whilst other contractors were working close by; the appropriate permits to work were not held by the contractor. There were neighbouring tanks of hazardous waste within the area at risk of damage with the potential release of polluting chemicals.
The Environment Agency served Notices suspending the use of adjacent tanks and requiring improvements to management procedures for site security and contractor management. Biffa complied with the enforcement notice and the suspension notice was lifted in late January 2007. Biffa have the ultimate responsibility for the actions of all contractors working on their site.
The second incident occurred in March 2007 when an audit of containerised waste storage was conducted. The audit identified several significant breaches of the permit including; improper storage of incompatible wastes, discrepancies between site layout plans, signage and storage, spillages of waste and inadequate labelling. The Environment Agency served an enforcement notice at that time.
A further inspection of the transfer station was carried out at Wednesbury on 21 May 2007 which identified non-compliance of the enforcement notice, and on 11 June 2007, where there were noticeable improvements in standards. The Environment Agency inspected again on the 26 July where further non-compliances were seen.
Speaking after the case Iain Storer, an Environment Agency officer involved in the investigation, said: “This result highlights the need for operators of hazardous waste installations to comply with their permits, the conditions of which have been designed to prevent accidents or incidents occurring, or to minimise the potential impacts of any that do occur. I’m pleased to report that standards at the Wednesbury site are now greatly improved.“
In mitigation, Counsel Richard Banwell the company had self-reported the tank incident, pleaded guilty the early possible opportunity and made improvements to their systems.
In sentencing, the Magistrates stated that Biffa had been reckless as opposed to acting intentionally or carelessly but had not acted out of financial motives. The company had the ultimate responsibility for their contractors which could not be passed on.
