A Penrith-based wood biomass company, Stobart Biomass Products Ltd, has been fined £14,000 after one of its waste wood stores in Hull caused ‘a risk of pollution’.
Holderness Magistrates Court handed the fine to the company last week (3 June) after it was found guilty of storing waste woodchip without the proper measure to prevent pollution.
According to the Environment Agency (EA), despite the fact that the company had received guidance to ensure the stored wood would not cause any problems to the local environment or nearby communities, when investigating officers visited the site on the Penrith Industrial Estate in Haweswater Road in 2011 and 2012, the woodchip being stored for use the energy-from-waste industry, was ‘not being prevented from being blown onto nearby areas during high winds in dry conditions’.
Further, Sarah Middleton, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that some local residents had reported brown dust being blown onto their properties, windows and cars and that officers had found one pile of woodchip and household waste falling into the dock, posing a risk to the Humber Estuary.
As there were no containment measures in place, when EA officers requested for this pile to be moved away from the water’s edge, 'significant amounts’ of waste woodchip, dust and debris blew along the dock as the work was being carried out.
Stobart Biomass admitted one charge of keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health, however, in mitigation, the firm said a dust management plan had been drawn up and passed to a stevedore company, but that this firm had failed to manage the risk appropriately.
The company was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of £5,512.73 and a victim surcharge of £15.
Speaking after the hearing. Joanne Holt, Environmental Crime Team Leader at the Environment Agency, said: “Waste management operations can potentially cause many problems to the local environment and neighbourhood – that’s why it is vital that companies ensure they meet all of their environmental obligations.
“In this case, Stobart Biomass [was] warned about the potential problems that waste wood piles could cause, but [it] failed to ensure that it was stored in an appropriate manner.”
Read Environment Agency guidance about managing waste.
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