Organics recycling company TEG Environmental has closed its in-vessel composting operation at Hutton, after a prosecution was brought against it by the Environment Agency over permit breaches. The Preston-based firm was ordered to pay £20,000 plus costs by Leyland Magistrates’ Court, for failing to comply with an enforcement notice which required the amount of waste being stored and treated at the site to be reduced to the volumes set by their environmental permit.
The permit’s conditions had included placing a 200 tonne limit on the amount of waste that could be stored on the Sherdley Farm site at any one time before treatment, and a 128 tonne limit on the amount of waste that could be treated. However, during inspections of the site in 2007, Agency officers found more than three times the permitted amounts of waste on site. Despite discussions with TEG throughout 2008 to ensure the site was compliant, the situation remained unresolved, prompting the issue of the enforcement notice.
Further visits by the Agency in 2009 showed TEG to be still storing and treating waste above its permitted limits. Taking into account complaints from the public over odours, the Agency launched its legal action.
Neil Finch of the Agency highlighted the importance of companies complying with their permitting conditions, and added, “We worked with TEG Group Plc to try and find an agreed solution to their breaches, but had to take legal action when the site continued to operate outside of their permitted conditions.” Fergus Healy, operations director at TEG responded, “We are shocked and saddened by the severity of the fine as this is a first offence for TEG and one that did not impact on the environment, a fact acknowledged by the Agency.”
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