Reddem, based in Wooler, was sentenced at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on 13 February 2026 after pleading guilty to two offences relating to unlawful waste activity and the unsafe storage of hazardous material.
The court heard that Reddem had been running an illegal waste site at The Old Gas Works Yard on South Road in Wooler.
Construction and demolition waste containing asbestos was being brought to the site and bulked up before onward transportation for disposal.
The company did not hold an environmental permit for the activity, which is required for most types of waste operation.
Asbestos is classified as controlled waste and is subject to strict storage and handling rules due to the risks it poses to human health and the environment.
Regulations require asbestos waste to be double-bagged and stored in sealed containers. Skips used for asbestos must be enclosed, and the material must not be transferred between different skips or containers once contained.
Despite this, the company stored asbestos-containing waste in open skips at the site.
‘Complete disregard’ for health impact
Reddem pleaded guilty to one offence of operating an illegal waste site and a further offence of keeping or treating waste in a way likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health by storing asbestos waste in open containers.
Magistrates fined the company £4,000 and ordered it to pay £4,000 in costs along with a victim surcharge of £1,600, bringing the total financial penalty to £9,600.
In a statement following the case, Area Environment Manager Gary Wallace said: “Asbestos is a known serious health hazard and this company has shown a complete disregard for the impact this could have had on its workers and nearby residents.
“Environmental permits are there to protect the environment and communities and we will take action against those who flout the law.”
40 tonnes of asbestos waste found
The case began after a local resident reported concerns to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), having regularly seen waste suspected to contain asbestos being delivered to the site and consolidated into large containers.
In June 2023, an HSE inspector visited the yard to gather evidence and spoke with a company director, who confirmed that asbestos cement was being moved around the site.
On 23 June 2023, the inspector served a prohibition notice requiring asbestos disturbance activity to stop immediately.
On the same day, Environment Agency (EA) officers attended the location and observed nine skips appearing to contain asbestos waste.
The agency issued a letter instructing the company to cease the activity and served a formal notice requiring that the land not be disturbed until a full inspection could take place.
A joint inspection involving both regulators was carried out on 30 June 2023. Waste samples taken from six skips were later confirmed by analysis to contain asbestos.
The EA’s investigation found that more than 40 tonnes of asbestos-containing material was subsequently removed from the site.
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