Compositing site fined £92,000 for reducing air quality

Garden centre Jack Moody has been fined £92,000 for reducing the air quality around its compositing site in Shareshill, near Wolverhampton.

The court found the company guilty of producing foul smells and emissions from the waste area after Environment Agency officers had given a number of notices expressing their concern.

Waste continued to be treated on the land despite the agency's objections and on January 11th 2008, its Waste Management Licence was suspended.

The judge ruled against the company, saying that it was a commercial motivation to continue disposing of the waste despite the Environment Agency's concerns that it was causing pollution to the atmosphere.

Environment management team leader for the agency Doug Freakley said: "We support appropriate recycling but are aware of the problems that poor management of green waste composting can cause."

Last week, chemical company Brenntag UK was taken to court by the Environment Agency for breaching its permit that restricted the amount of carbon emissions it could release on its site.

Posted by Joseph Hutton