Charges of contempt brought by the Environment Agency against Kent RDF firm Waste4Fuel and its current and former directors have been dismissed by the High Court in London.
Details for the decision last Tuesday (July 1) have not yet been provided by the Judge, who has indicated that they will be released at a later date.
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The Agency had been seeking charges of contempt against Waste4Fuel, current director Shelley Hurst, former site manager Jonathan Beckson and former company director Bryan Hughes.
The charges were in relation to the firms alleged failure to comply with an order to install fire breaks and separate areas for new waste at its Cornwall Drive site in Orpington.
Following the ruling, an Environment Agency spokesman said: The Environment Agency will consider the Judges ruling when he provides detail for his decision today. Until we receive it, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the ruling.
In the meantime, we are assessing our options with regards to the terms of the final order to see whether further proceedings should be brought for a breach of its terms. We will continue to do everything within our power to bring the site back into compliance.
Waste4Fuel
Meanwhile, thousands of tonnes of waste remain at the Cornwall Drive site and have done so for more than a year prompting complaints from local residents and politicians.
‘We are assessing our options with regards to the terms of the final order to see whether further proceedings should be brought for a breach of its terms. We will continue to do everything within our power to bring the site back into compliance.’
Environment Agency
This is despite Waste4Fuel which collects and sorts waste such as tyres, plastics, cardboard, metals and paper for processing into a refuse derived fuel (RDF) being given a most recent deadline of May 1 2014 by the Agency to remove all combustible waste from the site.
The company originally had its environmental permit suspended on April 22 2013 due to the waste and a number of fires at the site, the most recent of which fire crews were called to deal with on June 16 2014.
Speaking about the situation last Wednesday (July 2), Conservative London Assembly member for Bexley and Bromley, James Cleverly, said he had asked the London Mayor Boris Johnson for more fire prevention work in waste and scrap metal sites.
Mr Cleverly said: Ive highlighted the cost and problems at the Waste4Fuel site in Orpington and the Mayor of London has agreed to support our work to sort it out.
Application
Separately from the contempt charges, the current operators of Waste4Fuel were last Monday (June 30) refused an application to allow more material to be brought to the Orpington site.
The Environment Agency successfully opposed this application for a High Court order to vary the amount of waste operators are allowed to bring to the site.
In a statement released on Monday, the Agency said: In delivering his decision, Sir David Eady, sitting as a High Court Judge, acknowledged that it would not be for the Court to gamble with the safety of the public or potential harm to the environment, and he therefore refused the application.
Former director Bryan Hughes left Waste4Fuel in February when the company came under new ownership, with current managing director, Shelley Hurst, taking over in May 2014.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, Shelley Hurst and Waste4Fuel could not be reached for comment.
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