The waste management company, Biffa, was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £11,500 in costs last month, for breaching its Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit. The Environment Agency brought three charges against the firm, in relation to the storage of containerised hazardous waste and management of third party contractors at its hazardous waste installation in Wednesbury.
Environment Agency officer, Iain Storer said, “This result highlights the need for operators of hazardous waste installations to comply with their permits, the conditions of which have been designed to prevent accidents or incidents occurring, or to minimise the potential impacts of any that do occur. I am pleased to report that standards at the Wednesbury site are now greatly improved.”
The Environment Agency first served notices on the site in November 2006, which required improvements to site security and the management of contractors. A contractor had been working on a tank, which partially collapsed while other contractors worked close-by. This contractor had been at the site without the appropriate permits and there were other hazardous waste tanks in the area at risk of damage with the potential release of chemicals. An audit identified further breaches including spillages of waste, inadequate labelling and improper storage of incompatible wastes, which resulted in the Environment Agency serving an enforcement notice in 2007.
However, after three more site inspections in 2007, Biffa still had not complied with the enforcement notice. Biffa’s actions were described by Magistrates as reckless, but not financially motivated. Biffa director of environment and external affairs said, "We were let down badly by our contractor who we expected to perform his work professionally and diligently. His actions could not have been anticipated and the management system that we accept we should have had in place would not have prevented this incident. However, under the regulations, this is a strict liability matter and we accept that the ultimate responsibility rests with us. Since these incidents a number of improvements have been put in place [for instance] there have been changes to management and all activities now meet the required standards."
Prosecution counsel, Barry Berlin, told the court that Biffa held a PPC Permit, which is now known as an Environmental Permit, allowing the treatment and transfer of hazardous waste at its Wednesbury site, and that the company was obliged to follow the conditions of the permit.
