Farmer illegally spread waste on land

A farmer illegally spread liquid waste from a landfill site on his land because he failed to check the necessary paperwork, a court has been told.

Darlington magistrates heard that Iain Bainbridge, of Hill Top Farm, Winston, County Durham, accepted 26t of waste, which should not have been used for spreading on his farm.

The waste delivery company, John Warren (Animal By Products) of Eden Hall, Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, should have checked that Mr Bainbridge was allowed to accept it.

Mr Bainbridge, 29, and John Warren (Animal By Products) both previously pleaded guilty to one charge against environmental permitting regulations.

Prosecution for offences dating back to 2012 followed an Environment Agency investigation.

Mr Bainbridge was fined £375, ordered to pay £5,000 costs and a victim impact charge of £37.

See also: £262,000 fine for illegally dumping waste

The waste carrier company was fined £1,500, ordered to pay costs of £5,000 and a victim impact charge of £150.

Sentencing took place on Wednesday (20 January).

The court was told that Mr Bainbridge did have a permit to spread waste on his land as fertiliser, but the type of wastes he had accepted did not match those on his permit.

He later admitted that the material had been spread on fields used to produce animal feed but there had been no process in place for checking what waste was being received.

Mr Bainbridge told Environment Agency officers that there was now a manager running the waste side of the business and someone to check delivery vehicles as they came in.

Mr Bainbridge employed an environmental consultant who confirmed there had been no environmental harm caused by the unlawful spreading.

Records showed that more than 10 loads of wash water had been delivered to him by John Warren (Animal By Products).

The wash water had been stored in settlement tanks at the premises of the company.

An Environment Agency officer described the contents of a settlement tank in which wash water was stored as a liquid, dark red in colour, which contained fats and maggots.

Representatives from that company admitted their procedure for describing waste material was “not fit for purpose” and that they should not have delivered it to Mr Bainbridge’s farm.

They said a new procedure was now in place to avoid this situation happening again.

After the hearing, an Environment Agency spokesman said permits were put in place to ensure that the environment is protected.

“It is the responsibility of those who handle and manage waste to ensure that it is described and dealt with correctly, or they could face prosecution.”

Both defendants have now put new procedures in place to reduce the risk of it happening again so this should act as a warning for others to ensure they abide by the terms of their permits.