John Barnes stored and treated more than 20,000 tonnes of green waste at his company, Organically Ltd in Old Lane, Ockham, between April and August 2005.
” Despite the advice from their consultants, the fact remains that the operator's proposals to deal with polluting site drainage and potential nuisance odours fell short of what was expected. “
– Mark Tucker, Environment Agency
Guildford magistrates heard that Mr Barnes had no waste management licence to do so, and that the amount of waste being processed was too much to operate without a licence.
In order to obtain a waste management licence, certain environmental protection measures must be taken.
The magistrates yesterday fined Mr Barnes 3,000 for each of four charges, ordering him to pay 2,500 in costs.
The company, which produces a number of organic composts, was first told the level of its operations would require a licence in October 2003. The company applied for a licence, and the site was allowed to continue processing green waste while Environment Agency officers monitored possible impacts – particularly nuisance odours which can be generated from the open composting of green waste.
The licence application was rejected in January 2005, because the proposed drainage system was said by the Agency to be inadequate, with “bad smells from the process could not be managed properly”.
Despite the rejected application, the company continued to operate, and the site received complaints from neighbours regarding odours, the court heard. And, a fire broke out on the site in July 2005, with three months of smouldering fires to add to the complaints.
Investigating officer Mark Tucker said: “I found Organically Ltd and Mr Barnes to be very cooperative in trying to gain the necessary licence to allow the recycling of green waste at this site. However, despite the advice from their consultants, the fact remains that the operator's proposals to deal with polluting site drainage and potential nuisance odours fell short of what was expected and the application had to be rejected.
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“Despite then being required to remove existing stockpiles of composting material, the operator continued to accept green waste to the site and produce bad smells, leaving us with no choice but to pursue enforcement action,” Mr Tucker said.
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