The metals recycling company, also operating in commercial waste and domestic skips, was sentenced yesterday (April 21) at Derby Crown Court for breaches of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations. The company had previously pleaded guilty to three offences at an earlier court hearing.
In addition to fines totalling £270,000, there were prosecution costs of £100,000 bringing the total payable to £370,000. The fines included costs avoided by the company of £40,000.
Failures
According to the Environment Agency, the fine resulted due to failures by the company between March 2012 and June 2013 to operate its permitted Griffon Road and Hallam Fields sites properly in that they failed to adequately control the amount of waste on site.
Waste at the Griffon Road site was stored for longer than permitted and seen to be engulfing the outside storage bays. The odorous nature of some of the waste resulted in fly infestation.
At the Hallam Fields Road site, waste was stored in such significant quantities, that it posed a fire risk.
The Environment Agency was investigating the company following complaints from the public, and despite given opportunities to improve its operations, the Agency said Ward’s failed to bring the sites back into compliance.
Additionally, from February to July 2013, the company operated an illegal waste operation from nearby land at Old Stanton Iron works, the Agency noted. It found that “waste including redox fines and fragmentiser fluff, generated at the permitted sites was stored in significant quantities on the land without appropriate permits or in accordance with exemptions.”
Investigation
Following the case, an Environment Agency officer involved with the investigation, said: “We grant, monitor and enforce waste permits so that we can ensure that waste operations do not pollute the environment and pose a risk to human health.
“Donald Ward Limited failed to comply with their environmental permit despite multiple warning letters and enforcement notices issued by the Environment Agency.
“This prosecution demonstrates that we take cases such as this very seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute if necessary, to protect the environment and local communities.”
The Agency pointed out that in passing sentence His Honour Judge Bennett stated that the offences were aggravated by the company’s previous offending history, the length of time over which the offences occurred and the fact that by the time offences at Hallam Fields Road and Old Stanton Iron works were committed, the company knew it was under investigation by the Environment Agency.
[Updated: 25 April 2016]
Technical
A spokesman for Donald Ward Ltd said: “We were disappointed the Environment Agency pursued a prosecution in relation to the relatively minor technical breaches of the permitting regime. Donald Ward Limited accepted full responsibility for three technical breaches when sentenced at Derby Crown Court . His Honour Judge Bennett and the Environment Agency both fully accepted that no harm at all was caused to the environment and credit was given to Donald Ward Limited for taking responsibility for these breaches at an early opportunity.
“As one of the largest independent metal and waste recycling companies in the country we take our environmental responsibility extremely seriously. We remain committed to continual improvements in all areas of the business targeting zero to landfill.
“Donald Ward Limited is one of Derbyshire’s largest employers offering a complete range of recycling services throughout the UK and exporting recycled products globally.”
Subscribe for free