The Foyle Food Group Ltd, haulage contractor Ronald Baxter and farmer James Feeney have been fined a total of £10,000 plus costs, for a series of waste offences. The charges, which relate to various breaches of waste management legislation, were made at Londonderry Magistrates' Court on 30 July 2008.
The Foyle Food Group pleaded guilty on failing to keep proper records (waste transfer notes) in relation to the transfer of controlled waste, Mr Baxter pleaded guilty on one count of depositing controlled waste on land without a waste management licence being in force and Mr Feeney pleaded guilty on one count of allowing controlled waste to be deposited on his land, also without a waste management licence.
On 24 May 2008 officers of the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), now the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), visited a site on the Highmoor Road, Londonderry, in response to complaints of unauthorised waste disposal. Upon entering the site, officers observed a large mound of rotting paunch, which is the partly-digested contents of animal stomachs. Also found within the deposit were ear tag numbers, plastic intestinal clips and rubber gloves. The material was foul smelling and leachate was being produced.
Further enquiries revealed that Mr Baxter had transported the paunch from the premises of Foyle Foods at Lisahally and had deposited the waste on land owned by Mr Feeney. The court heard that the proper method of dealing with this type of controlled waste was to compost it or dump it in a properly licensed landfill site.
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