Risby waste company fined for environment breach

A Risby recycling business and its boss have been fined for operating illegally by storing wood waste and horse bedding in an adjacent field.

Greenways Recycling Ltd and its director Simon Housden pleaded guilty to breaching regulations designed to protect the environment at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The company was fined £30,000 and Housden £10,000, with each also ordered to pay costs of £4,462.

The court heard that Housden, 47, of Elmswell Road, Great Ashfield, had allowed Greenways to operate illegally either deliberately or through neglect and that wood waste stored at Tweed’s Plantation, Risby, was a fire risk.

They blamed a drop in demand, poor weather conditions and a break down in machinery for their actions.

Prosecuting for the Environment Agency, Miriam Tordoff said Greenways had offended for more than two years despite assurances it would remove excess waste from the field next to its site in Newmarket Road, Risby, and would not take in any more.

She said by March 2014 it had been served three statutory notices and was advised it should not spread the waste due to contamination risks.

Some of the waste was later found decomposing, with contaminated liquid leaking onto the field. The pile of waste was warm and steaming, prompting a visit from the fire service, said Mrs Tordoff.

After the hearing, EA team leader John Harrison said: “Our advice was ignored and this meant the waste was stored in a way that put the environment at risk.

“Recyclers taking in waste need to make sure they have sufficient space within their permitted site and that they can comply with their environmental permit due to the inherent risks of pollution.”