Judges uphold record Scottish waste fine

Appeal judges have upheld a fine handed to a South Lanarkshire waste management firm, which was described as the largest of its kind for a waste offence in Scotland.

Doonin Plant Ltd and its director Gary Doonin were found guilty of charges related the handling of controlled waste without a waste management licence and in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment in September 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Livingston Sherriff Court handed the firm a fine totalling 200,000 after hearing that the company had illegally stored several hundreds of tonnes of waste at a site near Cambuslang between January 17 2010 and February 11 2010.

The fine was described at the time by SEPA as the largest penalty handed out for an environmental offence in Scotland.

The company maintained that it had not broken any laws throughout the course of the trial, arguing that it was operating under a licence exemption, and was producing aggregates from materials brought onto the site.

Defence lawyers said that the waste was being kept on the site on a temporary basis, and it was not being kept there long enough for leachate or gas to escape into the surrounding area.

Appeal

Following the sentencing, Doonin Plant appealed the conviction which was heard at the appeal court in Edinburgh in February 2014.

Considering the appeal Lord Justice Clark, Lord Bracadale and Lord Wheatley of the Scottish judiciary said that they felt that the offence did represent a serious breach of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act.

Meanwhile, it was also noted that the fine was also set at an appropriate level, and that despite having suffered badly during the recession, the company still had sufficient assets to be able to pay the penalty.

Ruling

In the written ruling, the Judges stated: In our opinion this offence represented a serious breach of the 1990 Act. The evidence before the sheriff made it clear that this was a large-scale operation driven by a desire to make profit. The evidence indicated that the products of the waste would be likely to find their way into the surrounding land and groundwater causing harm to the environment.

They added: It is clear from the information before the sheriff as to the financial condition of the company that it was in a position to pay a substantial fine. The sheriff took into account the various matters which were advanced in mitigation. In all the circumstances we were unable to say that the sentence imposed was excessive and we refused the appeal against sentence.

When contacted by letsrecycle.com Doonin Plants legal representative John Pryde & Co declined to comment.