The council pleaded guilty to failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the escape of controlled waste along routes travelled by its waste collection trucks. It was subsequently fined 500 and ordered to pay 800 costs by magistrates in Bodmin.
Alerted
The Environment Agency, which brought the case against the council, was alerted on April 23, 2002, when an environment protection officer was travelling behind a council waste vehicle. The officer noticed that litter was “blowing around in the top of the vehicle” and no attempt had been made to secure the load, despite travelling at 40-50mph.
On two other occasions, items such as a bed and black plastic bags had been seen on the roadside along routes used by collection vehicles, the Agency said – although no heavy items were seen to fall from the vehicle on April 23.
Breach
Bruce Newport of the Environment Agency said: “By law a carrier of waste must take all reasonable measures to prevent that waste from escaping. This incident was a blatant breach of the terms of the Council's licence conditions.”
The court heard that since April 23, nets had been permanently fitted to all council-operated waste collection trucks.
Register for free to comment