Waste disposal firm fined for breaking environmental legislation

A Sunderland skip business has been forced to pay £6,000 after breaking environmental legislation by burning waste.

Nor-Skips, which had no previous environmental convictions, was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for burning mixed waste at the Alexandra Industrial Estate in Pallion in November 2008.

Trevor Cooper, prosecuting, said that despite being a registered waste carrier, the company did not have the necessary permit to be able to bring waste back to its Alexandra Industrial Estate site nor to burn waste.

A Nor-Skips director admitted that waste had been taken to the site but claimed he was unaware that the company's waste carrier's licence did not allow this and that burning wood was not permitted.

However, an environment officer who revisited the industrial estate in January discovered an even greater quantity of waste on site.

Last week the Environment Agency also fined a Cornish farmer for allowing silage effluent and dirty water to enter a tributary of the River Neet near Bude.

Written by Clare Manning