Bedfordshire waste recycling company in court for breaching permit rules

The director of a Bedfordshire wood recycling company has appeared in Luton Crown Court on behalf of his company after it breached the conditions of its permit.

The company, which was based in Ampthill before its liquidation in 2013, was found to be in breach of its permit by the Environment Agency after they discovered that the company was operating a regulated waste centre at its premises in Hertfordshire without holding the necessary permits.

The company’s permit was suspended in 2013 by the Environment Agency after they received complaints that a fire at the company’s premises in Potters Crouch, Hertfordshire, had been burning for a week. The fire, which started in November of 2011, caused considerable disruption to residents in the area.

 

The Environment Agency was concerned that waste at the recycling site involved “a risk of serious pollution”,and that “smoke from a fire at the site could [have] cause[d] a risk of serious harm to human health.”

The waste company is now facing a number of charges at Luton Crown Court and is also being prosecuted by Central Bedfordshire Council for breaching the Town and Country Planning Act of 1990 by storing materials at its premises above three metres high. The trial continues.