Clearance work has been underwayfor seven months at the site, which has been subject to multiple High Court and Environment Agency enforcement proceedings.
The work, which began in January 2016, is expected to be completed by the end of September, the Environment Agency has said.
The site was formerly operated by Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd which took over operations of the Moor Street site in 2009, retaining the environmental permit from previous operators Brian Hill Waste.
However, the company was told by the Environment Agency that the shredding and baling activities it was carrying out on the premises did not comply with the conditions of the original permit.
The Agency then took legal action against Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd and its directors in April 2012, for breaching the terms of its permit following earlier unsuccessful efforts to secure the company’s compliance with maximum height requirements for waste storage.
In January 2014, the former director of Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd, Robert McNaughton, was handed a six-month prison sentence for failing to clear piles of waste stored at the site (see letsrecycle.com story).
By December 2014, following several subsequent hearings at Birmingham High Court, the Agency obtained a formal order allowing High Court Enforcement Officers to seize the assets of the director and the company to fund the clearance of the site.
Removal
In January 2016, the EA reported that the landowners had agreed to fund the removal of the waste, covering the full costs with no expense to the taxpayer. Initial clearance work started on 11 January.
The EA has said that it now expects the waste to be cleared from the site by 30 September.
A spokesperson for the EA told letsrecycle.com that there was approximately 25,000 tonnes of waste on site, which after being sorted is being disposed of at a variety of “authorised disposal locations”.
Planning
In March 2015, Dudley Council received a planning application to build 94 apartments on the land, which is currently awaiting a decision on planning permission. The Environment Agency has stated is has no objection to the outline planning application.
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