A significant amount of combustible waste still remains at Kent-based firm Waste4Fuels Orpington site despite an Environment Agency order for the material to be removed by June 10.
The firm faces the possibility of prosecution after a joint inspection by the Agency and the London Fire and Rescue Service last week (June 11) found a mixture of construction and demolition material had yet to be removed from the firms site on Cornwall Drive, St. Pauls Cray.
However, Waste4Fuel manager Bryan Hughes told letsrecycle.com that the firm had removed a considerable amount of the material and was working to remove the remaining waste.
He said: We have removed a considerable amount of the material from the site and have made a commitment to remove a certain amount of other material by next Tuesday [June 25]. The Environment Agency has agreed to come and inspect the site that day. We are doing our best to remove the rubbish as soon as possible.
Waste4Fuel which collects and sorts waste such as tyres, plastics, cardboard, metals and paper at the site for processing into a refuse derived fuel (RDF) had its environmental permit suspended on April 22 2013 and was ordered to remove all combustible waste from the site.
Action
This followed reports of several fires involving the material at the site between March and April 2013, which led Conservative MP for Orpington, Jo Johnson, to write to the Agency asking it to review whether the Waste4Fuel had been respecting the terms of its licence.
‘We are doing our best to remove the rubbish as soon as possible’
Bryan Hughes, Waste4Fuel manager
Mr Johnson, told letsrecycle.com that he considered the site was a hazard to the local community and urged the Environment Agency to take action.
He said: I wrote to the Environment Agency in April asking them to take action to make sure that Waste4Fuel abides by the terms of its lease.
The Agency needs to take action to make sure the Waste4Fuel no longer poses a danger to the community and if necessary the site needs to be shut down.
The Agencys enforcement notice originally stipulated that all the combustible waste had to be removed from the site by no later than July 15, but this date was then brought forward to June 10 2013.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: While progress had been made in reducing the amount of waste on site it was noted during the inspection that there was still a significant amount remaining so the notice has not been complied with. The Environment Agency are now considering what enforcement action to take which may include prosecution.
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