Two Dungannon brothers who dumped around 2,000 tonnes of construction waste on wetland have been fined £12,000. The men pleaded guilty to 6 charges under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1997/2778 at Dungannon Magistrates on 15 August, which included depositing and keeping controlled waste on land without a waste management licence. Although the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) estimated that the men had avoided paying £25,000 in landfill costs and taxes, they got away with a fine of just £1,000 per charge each, with a paltry £35 in costs. The maximum fine could have been up to £20,000.
As reported in last months Monthly Bulletin, the EHS has issued a draft Waste (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order, in a bid to address the serious problem of illegal waste dumping within the province. Consultation on this will close on 31 October 2006.
