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Search forTHAXTED: Waste site firm fined £171,000
Thursday, November 20, 2008, 12:18
Haigh Contracts Ltd pleaded guilty on Wednesday November 19 to nine waste offences between February and November last year when waste was deposited, kept and burnt without a waste management licence or an appropriate exemption certificate. The company was fined £171,000 and ordered to pay £5,965 costs.
Magistrates were told that the Environment Agency began investigating at Amigers Farm in Thaxted, the site of the company's operations, in February
An officer found a number of wastes at the site and areas where waste had been burned leaving a smell in the air. Although the company had a permit from the local council to operate a mobile crushing and screening process, in the crushing area there were other wastes including plastics, wood and fabric.
Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald, prosecuting, said that in August and early November there were still skips of waste at the site and on November 15 there were reports to the Environment Agency of asbestos being delivered and buried at the farm. Investigations on a neighbouring site occupied by the company found a skip containing white asbestos and there was evidence of some waste having been burned.
Mr Haigh told investigators that waste had been burned by an employee of Haigh Contracts Ltd even though they had not been instructed to do so. He claimed much of the waste at the site pre-dated the involvement of the company or was not its responsibility.
Mrs McDonald said that although there was no evidence of actual harm to the environment, there had clearly been an impact on the visual amenity of the countryside.
After the hearing Environment Agency officer Tim Poulding said: "This prosecution should send a message to those carrying out waste operations illegally that it is not acceptable to flout the law and put legitimate businesses and the environment at risk. We need companies to recycle waste materials but this has to be regulated to prevent harm to people or the environment."
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