The firm pleaded guilty last week (June 19) at Warringtons Magistrates Court to an offence relating to the deposit and storage of 420 tonnes of mixed municipal waste in the companys yard on Everite Road outside their permitted area between June 28 and August 9 2012.
The hearing came just a month after the company suffered a fire at its site.
At the Warrington hearing, details of which have been released this week by the Environment Agency, Centrol Recycling Group was fined 20,000 and ordered to pay the Agency costs of 3,800 along with a standard victim surcharge of 15 totalling 23,815. This will be paid in instalment over a period of six months.
Complaints
An investigation was launched by the Environment Agency in July 2012 when officers followed up complaints from members of the public regarding flies in their properties. They observed bales of waste were being stored in the companys yard, with swarms of flies on and around the waste.
On July 5 2012 the Agency served a notice on the company to remove waste from the unpermitted area but an inspection taking place one week later uncovered even more mixed waste at the site.
The Agency said the fly infestation had worsened and a senior Environment Agency team leader with 20 years experience in waste regulation described the scene as the worst case of fly infestation that I have seen in my years of regulating waste management activities. The waste was cleared by August 13 2012.
Infestation
Speaking after the case, Sharon Holliday, lead investigating officer for the Environment Agency, said: The company accepted more waste than it could manage at its site. This led to more than 400 tonnes of mixed waste being left stored out in the open, resulting in a serious fly infestation.
The company should have either refused to accept the waste, or diverted the waste straight to an alternative permitted site when it was collected from its customers.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com Centrol Recycling Group was unavailable for comment.
The family-owned firm undertakes a range of waste and recycling activities including collections of recyclables (both commingled and separated), residual, office and hazardous waste.
Centrol Recycling Group was founded in 1968 as G&B Heaps and Sons. At present, it recycles over 400,000 tonnes of commercial waste every year.
Fire
Separately, last month there was a fire at the companys Everite Road site. On May 21st Cheshire Fire and Rescue said it was at the scene of a fire at a recycling plant in Everite Road. The fire is in a building which containes unprocessed recycling material. The Environment Agency were advised of the incident, roads were closed and residents advised to keep doors and windows closed.
A video of the incident is available at: Widnes recycling plant fire
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