Court bans trader from household waste sites

Cheshire county council obtained a court injunction against Ian Qualters of Little Sutton after he continued to deposit large volumes of waste at the Rossfield Road site in Ellesmere Port. Mr Qualters had ignored a ban issued in 2002, leading the council to seek an injunction which was granted last Friday (26/09/03).

Cheshire council says this injunction is the first of its kind in Cheshire and is part of a drive against the illegal deposit of business waste at household waste centres.

Chester County Court heard that Mr Qualters’ visits to the waste centre were far in excess of what would be reasonable for the disposal of domestic waste from one household. In one sample 11 week period he made at least 44 visits, while in another similar period he was recorded depositing waste on 70 occasions and up to five times a day.

Enforcement

It follows the county council’s joint enforcement operation earlier this year with the Environment Agency Wales which led to the prosecution of two traders in separate incidents for unlawfully depositing business waste at the council’s household waste centre at Neston.

Environment executive member Andrew Needham said: “Commercial abuse of household waste centres is a growing problem for local authorities across the country. Traders try to slip through business waste at household waste sites to avoid commercial charges – but centres in Cheshire are routinely monitored for such abuse.”

He added: “This injunction sends out a clear message to businesses and the public alike that the council will not tolerate abuse of its facilities – and in particular the defrauding of Cheshire council tax payers by traders.”

Disposal

Cheshire county council’s household waste and recycling centres are licensed to receive domestic waste deposited by Cheshire residents. The council estimates that disposing of this waste costs council tax payers nearly 50 a tonne, which amounts to some 7.5m a year and up to 10% of this is trade waste.

The council says that businesses should take their waste to authorised landfill sites for disposal or hire a skip and pay the charges including landfill tax.