Firms fined for mixing waste with compost

Two companies have been fined a total of 9,000 and ordered to pay costs of 30,000 for offences involving the mixing of hazardous waste with compost for spreading on fields in Gainsborough.

Composting service provider Land Network (Gainsborough) Ltd pleaded guilty to three waste offences, including the acceptance of non-biodegradable hazardous drawing soap and welding rod waste, at its site at Sturgate Airfield, Upton. The firm was fined 8,000 and ordered to pay 17,500 in costs.

And, Lincoln Electric (UK) Ltd, the Sheffield-based company which produced the waste from the drawing down of steel wire in the production of welding rods, also pleaded guilty to failing to prevent Land Network breaching its environmental permit. It was fined 1,000 and ordered to pay costs totalling 12,500.

The material was not spread on land the case centered on the acceptance of the material.

Lincoln Magistrates Court heard on Thursday (September 5) how between June 2009 and February 2010 Land Network, of Devizes, Wiltshire, operated a regulated facility without the authorisation of an environmental permit. The firm had been granted an exemption from permitting administered by the Environment Agency.

The company had accepted drawing soap, a lubricant consisting mainly of calcium hydroxide and glycerol which becomes contaminated with iron oxide during the process of drawing down steel, the court heard.

Mark Harris, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said: This case concerns the acceptance of a hazardous waste with the intention of diluting it by mixing with compost for spreading on agricultural land.

He added: Composting is not an appropriate method of treating hazardous waste.

‘Galling’

Philip Bates, co-director of Land Network Gainsborough with his brother Michael Bates, described the court process as galling but insisted the company had complied fully with its environmental permits.

He said: We have done our best and done everything the Environment Agency asked of us we could. It has never been spread on land, we took it all in good faith.

It took a long time for the Agency to find out what it was, we have never had anything like this. We stopped immediately. We did everything that they asked of us and when someone, a specialist, said it was hazardous we had no option but to plead guilty. We just want to get on with composting.

Meanwhile, the court heard how between June 2009 and March 2010 Lincoln Electric (UK) failed to comply with the duty of care imposed by the Environmental Protection Act 1990, by failing to prevent any contravention by any other person of a condition of an environmental permit.

District Judge John Stobart stated both companies were misdirected or misdirected themselves as to the status of the materials. He said: It was a potent mixture and fairly hazardous on any view.

Environment Agency officer James Finch added: We regard very seriously the mixing of hazardous waste to dilute it and will take action where appropriate. We hope that the outcome of this case alerts others to the risk of doing the same. This case also highlights the need to ensure that waste is handled properly.

Advice

Mark Waston, representing Land Network, said the company had relied on others for advice before accepting the waste, while Roy Martin QC said Lincoln Electric (UK) had also relied on others for advice.

Asked whether Land Network International, of which Land Network (Gainsborough) is a member, had advised the acceptance of waste at the Gainsborough site, chairman and chief executive officer Bill Butterworth, said: What I do not wish to do is dig up what went on in court. I do not want to argue that any of us were out of order.

“These difficulties from time to from do pop up but at the end of the day we all have a clear common sense duty to move up the waste hierarchy.

Lincoln Electric was contacted by letsrecycle.com but has yet to comment.