A self-employed Somerset builder has become the first person to be banned from handling waste after being found guilty of breaching environmental permitting regulations and the Environmental Protection Act.

Bernard Molloy, 53, of Shepton Beauchamp, was prosecuted at Taunton Crown Court on 26 May for dumping and burning illegal waste in a field after charges were brought against him by the Environment Agency (EA).

Molloy admitted to ‘transporting, depositing and transferring’ waste to a field off Wall Ditch Lane in Merriot and received a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) and 150 hours of community service and was order to pay £2,500 towards the costs of the investigation.

Under the terms of the CBO, which the EA says is the first of its kind that it has obtained, Molloy is prohibited from collecting, transporting or depositing any waste in the course of his business or using any sort of vehicle to carry out these activities as a business. He is also banned from entering Wall Ditch Lane, the site of his illegal dumping. If Molloy does not adhere to the terms of the CBO, he faces up to five years in prison.

Multiple witnesses

The court heard that Molloy attracted attention after several people observed him driving his flat-bed Ford Transit fully laden to a field off Wall Ditch Lane and leaving with it empty, often early in the morning. He was filmed doing so and was also filmed burning waste.

According to a local dog walker, Molloy’s vehicle travelled to the site on at least 20 occasions, returning approximately 30 minutes later, and was the only vehicle carrying waste down the lane. Waste reportedly transported on his truck included rubble, kitchen units, fridges and freezers.

When EA officers visited the field site on 19 August 2014, it was covered with piles of domestic and business waste despite no waste permit being in place for the site.

Documents containing the personal information of several people were retrieved from black bin bags found amongst the waste. Some of these were contacted to ascertain how their information ended up in a field secured with a padlocked gate.

Offences breached environmental regulations

When questioned, Molloy, who claimed to be in the ‘waste clearing business’, admitted dumping rubble and hardcore waste in the field to ‘make a track’ without having a valid waste carriers licence.

He denied tipping any other sort of waste at the site and implicated other parties by claiming to have changed the padlock on the gate to the field several times.

Molloy pleaded guilty at Taunton Crown Court to depositing controlled waste, including rubble, timber and electrical items, and mixed and commercial waste in the field without a valid permit between 1 June and 18 December 2014. In doing so he breached Regulations 12(1) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

Molloy was also convicted of two other offences, illegally burning waste ‘in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health’ and transporting controlled waste without a valid waste carriers licence, both of which breach the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

More information about how the Environment Agency investigates waste crime can be found in Resource’s feature article.