A fourth man operating from a Skegness waste site has been sentenced following an investigation by the Environment Agency.
He was sentenced on the 25 May following that of three other men earlier that month.
Between June 2015 and April 2017, the four men managed businesses operating from the former Bowman's site in Lincolnshire, near the A52.
On the 8 June 2015, the site's environmental permit was transferred to East Coast Recycling Properties Ltd, which was run by two of the men. This permit allowed for the processing of mixed waste with a view to extracting recyclable materials.
The Environment Agency began to conduct inspections at the site shortly afterwards and quickly found failings. The site's permit required a fire-prevention plan to be in place to avoid a serious blaze and protect the environment.
This was especially important as the site was surrounded by arable land and the nearest residential premises were only 10m away. However, the two men who ran the site failed to have such a plan in place leaving the site at risk.
Inspections found that waste was being stacked too high and too close together, creating a fire risk. The waste had also become a health risk following an influx of mice and a problem with flies. As a result, the Environment Agency suspended the site's permit, stopping new material from being brought in between December 2015 and February 2016.
Site waste presented fire risk
Further visits by Environment Agency officers between March and May 2016 found that there were no firebreaks between the waste, which meant the waste stored on the site continued to present a huge fire risk.
The company's permit was suspended again in July 2016. In the same month a new company, Eco Green Logistics Limited, registered an exemption to start waste work on another section of the Bowman's site. Another man of the group of four was the registered director of the company, and he also allowed too much waste into his section of the site, leading to waste being stored unsafely and presenting a fire risk.
The Environment Agency was reassured that waste would no longer be brought onto Bowman's and instead, the land would be redeveloped. However, the Environment Agency continued to find evidence of new waste being brought onto the land. A company, of which one of the men was the director, was brought in to provide on-site security and to remove waste from the site.
The environmental permit for the site was revoked fully in March 2017 and the businesses were ordered to clear the site fully. The site was later searched under warrant where evidence was found to show waste moving on and off the site despite the restrictions put in place by the Environment Agency.
Amongst this evidence was a diary owned by the director of the on-site security company, which highlighted a day when waste could not be brought onto site because of a visit by Environment Agency officers. This showed that he knew that waste could not be brought onto site and was trying to avoid Environment Agency-imposed restrictions.
"Reckless" actions
The two men who owned East Coast Recycling Properties Ltd, both had a previous suspended prison sentence for very similar environmental offences which the judge considered when sentencing.
Three of the men were sentenced at Leeds crown court on 19 May 2023, having pleaded guilty at earlier hearings:
The two owners of East Coast Recycling Properties Ltd were both sentenced to eight months immediate custody and were disqualified from acting as a director of a business for five years.
The other man, director of Eco Green Logistics Limited, was given a 12-month community order with ten rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also disqualified from acting as a director of a business for five years, and ordered to pay £60 as a victim surcharge.
The owner of the diary appeared at Leeds crown court on 25 May and pleaded guilty to two counts. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for five years.
Judge Simon Batiste said that he had been "reckless" rather than deliberate, and that it was "evident" that he had removed and imported "significant numbers of loads of waste" to and from the site.
The other three men will return to court later this year in relation to a Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 enquiry.
Illegal waste activity taken "very seriously"
Yvonne Daly, an environment manager at the Environment Agency, said: "Waste crime is serious because it causes widespread and significant harm: to people, places, the economy, to law and order, and to the environment".
"Any breaches of environmental permits and illegal waste activity are taken very seriously. We will take the necessary action to disrupt criminal activity and prosecute those responsible".
"We support businesses trying to do the right thing and genuinely comply, but we will issue enforcement notices, and use our regulatory powers when appropriate".
"The defendants were told to remove waste and ensure safety on the site on numerous occasions but failed to do so".
"Anyone with suspicions of waste crime can call our incident hotline, 0800 807060, or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111".
