The owner of a waste transfer station was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £5,270 by Lincoln Magistrates’ Court
The fine was reduced to £8,000 on appeal at a hearing on 8 February 2013 at Lincoln Crown Court.
Clifford Page pleaded guilty to accepting waste asbestos in breach of a condition of his permit, storing and transporting the asbestos in an unsafe way.
Magistrates were told that Page accepted waste asbestos from five different sources onto his site at Lissinglea House Farm, Lissington, Lincoln in the summer of 2011.
In September 2011 two Environment Agency officers found two open skips containing asbestos at the Lissington site. The skips contained a mixture of white, blue and brown asbestos and were stored one on top of the other. The top skip was not covered properly and asbestos in the lower skip was broken, risking the release of fibres.
The officers raised concerns with an employee about the unpermitted asbestos storage.
Later in September 2011 Page bulked up the asbestos into one large skip and took it to a legitimate asbestos landfill.
Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald told the court that asbestos should be sealed in plastic and stored and transported in a closed skip. She said that CCTV footage at the landfill showed the asbestos was transported uncovered. The accompanying paperwork was ‘muddled’, she said.
Page admitted putting the two skips together at his waste transfer site but thought the top skip effectively covered the bottom one.
Mr Mark McNeil said in mitigation that Page had not intended to cause damage to the environment.
Clifford Page pleaded guilty to:
1. Between 2 June 2011 and 20 September 2011 at Lissinglea House Farm, Lissington, Lincoln LN3 5AG, you failed to comply with Condition 1.2.1 and Appendix A of an Environmental Permit reference EA/WML/73208, in that you accepted waste asbestos which is not a permitted waste under Appendix A of the said Permit.
Contrary to Regulation 38(2) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010
Fined £20,000
2. On or about 19 September 2011 you, being a person who carries controlled waste, failed in your duty to take all such measures applicable to you in that capacity as were reasonable in the circumstances to prevent the escape of waste asbestos from your control.
Contrary to section 34(1)(b) and section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
No separate penalty
