Waste Manager Receives Prison Sentence for Flouting the Law
The manager of a waste transfer station has been given a 12-month suspended prison sentence for running an illegal waste site at Torpoint, in Cornwall.
Adam Wilcott, who managed the transfer station on behalf of Highgate Services, was also banned from working in the waste industry for 5 years.
The site was permitted to hold non-hazardous waste material such as stone, rubble, wood, packaging, plastics, construction waste, metal and household waste. They were then to sort these materials and sell any wastes of value off to others sites for reprocessing, reuse, or recovery.
In early 2018, Environmental Agency officers visited the site and noticed it was in a 'very poor state' and it was said that there was a large amount of unsorted waste that was being stored outside of the permitted areas, contaminated run-off was overflowing from drains and waste was overflowing into the land adjacent to the site.
Adam Wilcott, who managed the transfer station on behalf of Highgate Services, was also banned from working in the waste industry for 5 years.
The site was permitted to hold non-hazardous waste material such as stone, rubble, wood, packaging, plastics, construction waste, metal and household waste. They were then to sort these materials and sell any wastes of value off to others sites for reprocessing, reuse, or recovery.
In early 2018, Environmental Agency officers visited the site and noticed it was in a 'very poor state' and it was said that there was a large amount of unsorted waste that was being stored outside of the permitted areas, contaminated run-off was overflowing from drains and waste was overflowing into the land adjacent to the site.
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Piles of unsorted waste material at the site in Cornwall
As a result of the visit, Highgate Services Ltd was issued with a Compliance Assessment Report that listed 5 breaches in its site permit. Despite further visits between April and August 2018, there were no attempts to rectify the breaches.
Even after being issued with several enforcement notices, the state of operations at the site continued to deteriorate, with Wilcott even denying Environment Agency officers access to the site in a subsequent inspection in July 2018.
Appearing before Plymouth Magistrates, Adam Wilcott was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 2 years, ordered to pay £2,308 in costs and complete 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to 4 offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
Highgate Services Ltd was fined £18,800 and ordered to pay £2,338 in costs after pleading guilty to the same offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
Even after being issued with several enforcement notices, the state of operations at the site continued to deteriorate, with Wilcott even denying Environment Agency officers access to the site in a subsequent inspection in July 2018.
Appearing before Plymouth Magistrates, Adam Wilcott was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 2 years, ordered to pay £2,308 in costs and complete 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to 4 offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
Highgate Services Ltd was fined £18,800 and ordered to pay £2,338 in costs after pleading guilty to the same offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
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