Centrol Recycling Group have been ordered to pay £20,000 with costs of £3,800 and a victim surcharge of £15 for illegally storing 420 tonnes of waste which led to a serious fly infestation.
An investigation was launched by the Environment Agency in June 2012, when officers followed up complaints from the public regarding flies in their properties. They observed bales of mixed municipal waste being stored in the company's yard in Everite Road, Widnes, with swarms of flies on or around the waste. The waste was being stored outside of their permitted area.
On 5 July 2012 the Agency served a notice on the company requesting they remove the waste from the un-permitted area, but an inspection a week later found even more mixed waste at the site. The fly infestation had worsened, and a senior Agency team leader with 20 years experience in waste regulation described the scene as "the worst case of fly infestation that I have ever seen in my years of regulating waste management activities."
The site was eventually cleared on 13 August 2012.
Lead Investigating Officer for the Agency, Sharon Holliday, commented, "The company accepted more waste than it could manage at its site. This led to more than 400 tonnes of mixed waste being left stored out in the open, resulting in a serious fly problem. The company should have either refused to accept the waste, or diverted the waste straight to an alternative permitted site when it was collected from its customers."
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