Tuesday 23 June 2015

Oxfordshire firms fined £21k for illegal waste

Two firms have been ordered to pay a total of £21,000 for illegally depositing 3,000 tonnes of waste at a farm in Bampton.

Francis Stewart-Wood, the landowner of Elmwood Farm and Stephen Radband, a director of SJ Radband Haulage, appeared before Oxford Crown Court last week.

The waste, known in the industry as ‘trommel fines’, can contain various contaminants, according to the Environment Agency.

It said the waste had been mis-described in order to justify its use as a growing medium compost for Mr. Stewart-Wood’s mushroom farm and to avoid higher disposal fees.

The farmland didn’t have an environmental permit.

One of the waste carriers, SJ Radband Haulage, failed to make sure the waste had been properly described or check the farmer had an environmental permit.

The Environment Agency was alerted to the case in June 2012 after receiving reports of lorries containing waste entering a farm gate.

The Court found Mr Stewart Wood and his company Aylesbury Mushroom Farms Ltd had acted recklessly and Stephen Radband had been negligent in committing the offences.

Ian Finnegan, waste crime enforcement officer for the Environment Agency said: “We take a zero tolerance approach to companies who misdescribe their waste and deposit it illegally.”