The company was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on 6 January 2026 following a prosecution by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
Atlantic Recycling pleaded guilty to failing to comply with conditions of its environmental permit, contrary to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, relating specifically to fire prevention and mitigation requirements.
The company has previously attracted attention for a number of other health and safety incidents, and its link to the political campaign of former First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething.
Failure to reduce fire risk
The offence centred on the company’s failure to operate its site in accordance with its approved Fire Prevention and Mitigation Plan, despite the site storing Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), a highly combustible waste stream.
NRW inspections found a number of breaches, including waste stockpiles being positioned too close together, with separation distances falling short of the required 12 metres.
Inspectors identified stockpiles exceeding the permitted height of four metres, increasing the risk of fire spread and reducing the ability to safely control an incident.
The company also failed to maintain a quarantine area of sufficient size to safely isolate waste in the event of a fire.
Permit conditions required a quarantine area capable of holding 50% of the largest waste stockpile on site, which was not provided.
The court heard that Atlantic Recycling continued to accept additional waste in July 2019, despite having agreed with NRW that it would stop taking waste until fire safety issues were addressed.
According to NRW, the site previously suffered from “significant” fires in 2014 and 2015.
£40k fine and £28k prosecution cost
In sentencing the company, the court took into account a number of aggravating factors, including Atlantic Recycling’s previous convictions, a history of non-compliance, and the site’s proximity to sensitive environmental areas and nearby residential communities.
The judge imposed a £40,000 fine and ordered the company to pay £28,000 in prosecution costs to NRW. A victim surcharge is also to be decided.
The sentencing judge, Her Honour Judge Celia Hughes said: “After considerable court time reviewing the evidence in this case, I am left with a sense of relief that I am sentencing this company merely for three breaches of its environmental permit, rather than for a more egregious criminal offence.
“The company ran a risk of causing serious environmental consequences by cutting corners, by ignoring its own Fire Prevention and Mitigation Plan and the requirements set out by NRW, even when it was warned about its behaviour.
“It is fortunate that nothing more serious arose from those breaches and I am told that the company has now taken more steps to comply with its enormous responsibility to run a safe and environmentally sensitive business on Welsh land.”
Previous incidents at Atlantic Recycling
Atlantic Recycling is run by David Neal and has attracted national attention in recent years.
The company came under political scrutiny after donating £200,000 to the Labour leadership campaign of Vaughan Gething.
The firm has also faced significant enforcement action on health and safety grounds.
In 2024, Atlantic Recycling was fined £300,000 following the death of a worker at the site in 2019.
A further fatality occurred at the same site in July 2024, which went under investigation by South Wales Police and the Health and Safety Executive.
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