A Cornish waste disposal company has been ordered to pay £17,000 compensation to a local farmer after waste contaminated with asbestos was dumped on his land.
Glebe Quarry Limited, which trades as 1st Call Skips, has also been ordered to pay £26,500 in fines and costs for illegally handling and disposing of hazardous waste.
The company has pleaded guilty to 5 separate offences at Truro Crown Court. The offences occurred at 3 sites in Cornwall, including a nearby farm.
Checks by the Environment Agency revealed the company had unlawfully dumped more than 2,400 tonnes of waste, some of which was contaminated with asbestos, on land which wasn’t authorised by their site permit.
Glebe Quarry Ltd continued illegally dumping waste at the site despite being warned they would be committing an offence if they carried on.
Waste was supplied to local farms for use in low-risk activities such as the construction of farm tracks. This was done under an exemption which is an agreement that doesn’t require a permit.
The waste supplied to one farm was heavily contaminated with asbestos and cost nearly £120,000 to clean-up.
Appearing before Truro Crown Court on 22 June 2018, Glebe Quarry Limited was fined £12,500 for offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
In addition to the financial penalty, the court ordered that Glebe Quarry Limited must proactively inform the Environment Agency which sites they are sending their waste to and they must also remedy the sites they have polluted.
