Paterson in email link to waste carpet fire

Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson has become embroiled in a row over a carpet recycling business in Northumberland which has seen an estimated 3,000 tonnes of its waste material catch fire.

Last week, the fire, which had burnt for six months, was raised in a House of Commons debate by Liberal Democrat Sir Alan Beith who is MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Sir Alan described how the blaze, which started in September and was finally extinguished last month (February 2014), had involved tonnes of waste carpet material stored on a site at Thrunton by carpet recycling firm Blackwater (North East) Ltd, which is based in Alnwick.

At its height, smoke from the blaze disrupted traffic on the adjacent A697 road and local residents were told to keep windows and doors closed.

The company has in the past been praised by the Waste & Resources Action Programme which last year showcased the work of Blackwater in a report on the collection of non-clothing textiles.

The report stated: This is an example of an efficient and fast growing operation which shreds over 230 tonnes of carpet a week. Care is taken to assign the different materials to their best end use. The shredded product is then baled and sold on for use in equestrian arenas and to be used as fuel as a direct replacement for coal.

Explaining the background to the fire, Sir Alan went into detail regarding Blackwaters past breaches of its permit between 2011 and 2013, and also outlined email exchanges between Mr Paterson and the Conservative candidate for the Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency, Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Sir Alan called for further investigation as to whether political pressure had been put on the Environment Agency to delay enforcement action at the site, after the email appeared to show Mrs Trevelyan imploring Mr Paterson to assist the firm, which had been threatened with closure.

The e-mail reads:

Hi OwenSee below from the excellent business which I sent you the EA papers for after your trip to Northumberland.

As you can see below the EA are trying to shut the business down even though its their non-processing of the licences which is the cause.

Time is of the essence now for financial reasonsplease can you update me on any progress with EA? I am in London on Tuesday and Wednesday morning next week if we needed to meet.

Your urgent assistance in this is much appreciated.

Response

In his reply to Mrs Trevelyan, dated August 5 2013, Mr Paterson detailed some of the sites failures to comply with environmental requirements, but indicated the Environment Agency would not take enforcement action for a breach of storage limits at a second site. He also urged her to encourage the firm to work with the Environment Agency.

The Secretary of State wrote:

Notwithstanding the fact that equestrian surface material remains a waste, the EA has taken a proportionate approach to regulation to allow the material to be subsequently used without being subject to further waste controls.

I hope that [redacted] will work with the EA to attain end-of-waste criteria for combustible briquettes but also ensure he complies with the necessary permits and registered exemptions so that he can continue to contribute to environmentally sound waste recycling and recovery. Ive been assured by the EA that it will be happy to meet to discuss further any of these issues.

Sir Alan went on to say there had been an appalling failure of judgement in Mrs Trevelyans decision to write to Mr Paterson on behalf of the company.

Businesses

‘The Agency has my full backing to take tough and timely enforcement action against those who repeatedly flout the law, undermine the legitimate waste management industry, and cause suffering to local communities.’

– Dan Rogerson, Defra minister

Explaining her point of view, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Berwick, Mrs Trevelyan told letsrecycle.com: “Blackwater Ltd asked for my assistance with regard to delays in the approval of an end-of-waste licence application for the production of recycled carpet fuel briquettes and I liaised with Defra on that matter for the company.

“The company was storing waste carpet with a view to using it to produce a new fuel product from recycling carpet. Many of our local businesses need a loud, supportive voice to help them grow and create local jobs, and that is what I will be continuing to do.”

She continued: “I was not involved in the separate issue of the licensing at the Thrunton Works and the storage of waste carpets at the factory site where the fire took place. Correspondence from Defra indicates that this matter was being managed by the Environment Agency. The fire at the old Swarland Brick Works site has caused a lot of misery to local people, the owner of the site and to those employed at Blackwater Ltd. I am disappointed that our MP has chosen to play party politics with such a difficult situation.”

‘Horrified’

Giving the formal response to Sir Alans comments at the Commons debate, Defra minister Dan Rogerson said he was horrified by the circumstances of the fire, and commended the landowner, Mr Blythe, for managing the fire in the absence of the operator.

Mr Rogerson went on to concede there were lessons to be learned from the handling of the incident although he did not comment on Sir Alans assertion that political pressure could have been a factor as to why the Environment Agency did not act sooner.

He said: The Agency has my full backing to take tough and timely enforcement action against those who repeatedly flout the law, undermine the legitimate waste management industry, and cause suffering to local communities.

As part of the lessons to be learned from the handling of this case, I will ask the Agency to consider whether its enforcement action could have been swifter.

Blackwater Ltd

Blackwater was awarded a permit for the site in June 2011 as a household, commercial and industrial waste transfer station with treatment, in order to take waste carpet from a number of sources to be exported as biomass fuel or used as equestrian surfacing.

The company claimed to collect around 12,000 tonnes of non-clothing textiles per annum, at around 60 per tonne, with a total recycling rate of 50%. Blackwater also claimed to make its revenue from the sale of recyclate for fuel and equestrian surfaces, both priced at 50 per tonne.

At the time of the WRAP report, the firm employed nine full time staff, and made 10-12 collections per week from household waste recycling centres in North East England, Yorkshire, North West England, and Scotland.

Once the carpets had been sorted for synthetic material, which was the only material suitable for equestrian surfaces, they would be shredded by a small excavator, compacted, baled and moved to the storage area. The remaining 50% was to be sent for energy recovery abroad to save on the use of coal in fuel production.

However, the Environment Agency identified a number of breaches of the permit between July 2011 and March 2012, while a visit to the site in March 2013 found that waste was being stored outside in excess of the permitted tonnage. Breaches of permit conditions were also identified at a second Blackwater-owned site in Milfield.

On January 10 this year, the Environment Agency served an enforcement notice on Blackwater, and is currently exploring options including prosecution and permit revocation after the firm failed to clear burned waste from the site by the agreed deadline.

However, the Agency has refuted claims that it should contribute to the cost of clearing the site, which is currently estimated by Defra to be 635,000.

Obligations

An Environment Agency spokesman said: We have asked the land owner to provide an action plan which details how they will meet their legal obligations in the event that the operator continues to refuse to move the waste. We will continue to support the land owner with advice and guidance.

The Environment Agency has pursued the site operator to remove the waste because we have no duty to step in and remove waste that has been deposited by an operator, even when a permit exists and has been issued by the Environment Agency. Operators must be accountable for their actions so that we dont spend tax payers money to clear the site.

When contacted by letsrecycle.com, the Blackwater website had been taken down and its managing director, Jim Douglas, could not be reached for comment.