Greenway directors receive suspended sentences

Shrewsbury Crown Court sentenced Greenway directors and brothers Jonathan and Mark Nicholson from Armagh, Northern Ireland, to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, on 24 February.

They were also ordered to undertake 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from being a company director for three years.

And, the brothers were told to pay a total of more than £23,000 towards the costs of the prosecution.

Both men admitted the charge of breaching the environmental permit for the site by “inappropriately” stockpiling bales of refuse derived fuel (RDF) at the site between 12 October 2016 and 19 January 2017, the Agency says

The RDF included plastics, wood, metal, paper, and cardboard.

Officers from the Agency estimate that the brothers dumped more than 26,000 cubic metres of waste, or roughly the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

‘Serious environmental impact’

David Hudson, environment manager for the West Midlands Area of the Environment Agency, said: “Waste crime can have a serious environmental impact. It puts communities at risk and undermines legitimate business and the investment and economic growth that go with it.

“We support legitimate businesses, and we are proactively supporting them by disrupting and stopping the criminal element.

“This is backed up by the threat of tough enforcement, as in this case.”

Greenway

Greenway Waste Recycling Limited (Company No. 07281560) had its lease for the Telford site terminated by the landowner in January 2017 for “failing to pay rent” (see letsrecycle.com story). The company subsequently went into administration.

Following the eviction of the company, efforts were made to secure the removal of the waste abandoned by the brothers, the Environment Agency says. Only one load, comprising 26 bales, was removed (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Agency says officers inspecting the site throughout the time the waste was being stockpiled in breach of the permit highlighted the fire risks.

A “significant” waste fire took place at the site in April 202, leading to the closure of the nearby M54 and several neighbouring primary schools (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Agency says it was “in regular contact” with the landowner between Greenway’s in 2017 and the fire. It also says it carried out regular inspections of the site.

The Agency’s investigation into the fire remains ongoing.