A total of four charges have been brought by the Environment Agency concerning incidents which it says took place between February 2000 and November 2002. Britannia director Robert Bulcock also faces one charge. The case will be heard at Oldham Magistrates Court on May 6, 2003.
Britannia is charged with unlawfully depositing controlled waste – specifically scrap fridges – on an unlicensed site at Monarch Mill, Jones Street, Royton in Oldham.
The company also faces three charges relating to a site in Gould Street, Oldham – one of failing to comply with a Waste Management Licence condition governing record-keeping, and two of breaching the firm's Duty of Care obligations concerning the transfer of waste gases extracted from scrap fridges.
In November 2002, Britannia Import Export was ordered to remove the fridges from two of its unlicensed sites, including Monarch Mill, following the serving of enforcement notices by the Environment Agency (see letsrecycle.com story). Notices were originally served in September 2002 on eight of the company’s sites, requiring the removal of 150,000 waste fridges.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We have been talking to them. But they have failed to comply, which is why we are taking them to court.”
Fires
The announcement of the court action comes just a few days after two fires broke out within 24 hours at another Britannia Import Export fridge site, at Stock Lane, Chadderton. The site had been licensed to store fridges by the Environment Agency, and had accumulated 30-40,000 fridges. After the fires, on 17 and 18 April, only 4,000 of those fridges were said to have been left undamaged.
Dave Lewis, a divisional officer for Greater Manchester Fire Service, told letsrecycle.com that the incident was thought to be arson. A security guard is reported to have discovered some teenagers on the site before the fires were detected.
Due to the toxic flames, including CFCs and benzene, local residents were told to stay indoors, while 70 firefighters battled the huge blaze.
Fire-fighting was made difficult because the site lacked a safety infrastructure, despite holding a licence from the local council, Mr Lewis said. “It was very difficult to access,” he explained, adding: “There were no fire breaks.” Additional problems were caused by the height of the stacks. A local authority JCB had to be used to get close to the fire because the fridges were packed so tightly into the site, he said.
Commenting on the future of the site, the Environment Agency spokesperson said: “It’s a bit early to tell as the clean up operation is still going on. The site is licensed but we will be talking with Britannia as to the best way to proceed.”
Firefighters tended a fire at another of Britannia's Manchester fridge sites in September 2002. After this, the company had agreed with the Environment Agency that access to its sites would be made easier for fire crews (see letsrecycle.com story). The fire contributed to the Agency’s decision to insist on fridge reprocessors acquiring licences before fridges could be stored on site.
Officials at Britannia Import Export were unavailable for comment.
Subscribe for free