Company fined for it;'s pong.
Mogden campaigners may be interested in the successful prosecution of a large re-cycling company for the pong it caused.From the Environment Agency website:http://tinyurl.com/5q9wvnFined £8,000 for failing to comply with licenceAuthor: Rita Penman Date published: 29-Aug-2008 Keywords: Compost, Prosecution, Smells Operators of the Haynes composting site in Bedfordshire have been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £4,257 costs for breaching their licence in four separate ways.The Environment Agency visited the site in Old Main Road three times in June and July last year to investigate the smells that were upsetting local people and as a result discovered breaches of a waste management licence to run the site.Material Change Ltd today (Thurs) pleaded guilty at Bedford Magistrates’ Court to the four offences which included failing to record results and failing to record the twice daily monitoring of odours at the site boundary.Magistrates were told that the company’s licence to operate included conditions about monitoring and recording, some of which the company failed to comply with, and that the problem had been ongoing. Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald prosecuting, said: ‘There is also evidence that records were changed between the seizure of documents from the site and the documents provided as required by the Statutory Notice.’She said that during the period of the records seized from 7 February to 16 July at the most there was only one reading for moisture taken per windrow (long heap of compost) per day recorded. On many days no moisture monitoring was recorded at all. It was also not clear if the technically competent manager was on site at all between 27 January and 4 June – a condition of the licence requires arrival and departure times of that person to be recorded.Magistrates were told that windrow composting is an aerobic process which relies on oxygen dissolving in the water layer in and around the compost. If the material is too dry the composting process slows and may result in incompletely composted material. If this material is later wetted, the composting process may restart with the consequent risk of smells being generated.Material Change had also failed to prepare or submit six monthly environmental performance reports to the Agency (also a condition of their licence) until prompted.‘The poor management of the site has led to odour complaints in the past showing there is potential for harm to members of the public. The offences cover a significant period of time which shows it was not an isolated breach,’ said Mrs McDonald.Material Change pleaded guilty to:1. Between 6 February 2007 and 17 July 2007 at Haynes Composting Facility, Old Main Road, Haynes, Bedfordshire, you contravened condition 4.6.1 and Table 4.6B of a Waste Management Licence EAWML/75167 granted in respect of the site on 30 November 2005 pursuant to Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in that you failed to record the results of the windrow moisture content monitoring.Contrary to Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 19902. Between 27 January 2007 and 4 June 2007 at Haynes Composting Facility, Old Main Road, Haynes, Bedfordshire, you contravened condition 1.4.4 and 7.3.1 of a Waste Management Licence EAWML/75167 granted in respect of the site on 30 November 2005 pursuant to Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in that you failed to record the attendance of the technically competent person at the site in the site diary on arrival and departure.Contrary to Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 19903. Between 1 January 2007 and 1 May 2007 at Haynes Composting Facility, Old Main Road, Haynes, Bedfordshire, you contravened condition 6.2.1 and Table 6.2 (a) of a Waste Management Licence EAWML/75167 granted in respect of the site on 30 November 2005 pursuant to Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in that you failed to record the twice daily monitoring of odours at the site boundary by the site manager or supervisor in the site diary.Contrary to Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 19904. Between 30 May 2006 and 30 May 2007 at Haynes Composting Facility, Old Main Road, Haynes, Bedfordshire, you contravened condition 7.4.1 of a Waste Management Licence EAWML/75167 granted in respect of the site on 30 November 2005 pursuant to Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in that you failed to provide to the Environment Agency reports on the environmental performance of the site on a six monthly basis.Contrary to Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990JL
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