Tenant farmer and roof insulation company fined for dumping hazardous waste
Tenant farmer Michael Goulding was this week (Monday 4 September 2006) ordered to pay £27,744 in fines and costs for allowing drums containing hazardous waste to be dumped and fridges to be buried on farm land at Ringwood, Dorset.
Michael Goulding, of Ashley Farm, Verwood Road, Ringwood, Dorset, appeared before Lyndhurst magistrates today in a case brought by the Environment Agency.
Roof insulation company Warmroof Systems Limited, of Wellington Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, had pleaded guilty to several linked offences at an earlier hearing.
On July 15, 2005 Environment Agency officers went to Ashley Farm, Verwood Road, Ringwood, after being told by an ex-employee of Warmroof Systems that spent chemical drums were being buried on the site. Michael Goulding had been the tenant at the farm since 2000.
They found a deep pit just inside the main entrance gate from Ashley Drive which was full of dirty water, with an oily scum on the surface and numerous pieces of household waste including plastics, metal and a discarded televisions.
Builders and green waste together with packaging was heaped into a large bonfire that was due to be burned. When they returned later the fire had been lit and all of the waste had been burned.
Three Warmroof Systems chemical drums were seized so the contents could be analysed and it revealed they contained a hazardous liquid.
Two employees from Warmroof Systems were seen on the farm and interviewed about the waste being dumped and burned. The Environment Agency returned with a mechanical digger and an excavation of the site revealed a range of waste buried over a wide area. This included refrigerators and freezers and air conditioning units and tyres. They had been buried in layers, approximately three deep down to a depth of four metres.
During a formal interview, Michael Goulding denied any knowledge of the fridges and blamed his father, who had died in 2003. Evidence found with the fridges clearly showed the burying happened after his father’s death.
He admitted allowing people to dispose of waste on the farm, permitting Warmroof Systems to keep waste there, and disposing of their chemical drums. Inquiries showed that 15 commercial sized fridges from various companies, some traced to London and Southampton, had been buried on the farm.
Warmroof Systems Limited pleaded guilty to four charges under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 - that prior to 25 August did knowingly permit controlled waste to be deposited on land at Ashley Farm, Verwood Road, Ringwood that did not have the benefit of a waste management licence contrary to Section 33(1).
The company also admitted allowing chemical drums containing a residue isocyanate, a hazardous liquid, to be deposited at the same location. The company was fined £4,300 and ordered to pay £2,327 costs.
Michael Goulding was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £9,744 costs by Lyndhurst magistrates after pleading guilty to three offences under Section 33(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 including knowingly permitting controlled waste to be deposited, and waste, including hazardous waste, to be disposed of on land at Ashley Farm, Ringwood, which did not have the benefit of a waste management licence.
Goulding also admitted allowing a quantity of refrigerators to be disposed of contrary to Section 33(1) and (6).
‘We made numerous site visits, but both Michael Goulding and Warmroof Systems were uncooperative and continued to dispose of waste during our investigation. There was a complete failure to accept responsibility or take any action to address the problem,’ said Clive Clasby, from the Environment Agency.