INDUSTRY NEWS Waste criminal sentenced after two failed arrest attempts
IN early October, Michael Newsome, from Huntingdon, was sentenced to a total of eight months imprisonment after illegally trading as a waste fi rm. Newsome, 28, traded as Cambridgeshire waste fi rm Rubber Recycling Ltd and even advertised on social media as being licensed. Newsome was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work for the benefi t of the community, ordered to pay a total of £12,131.90 in compensation to the landowners where he abandoned tyres and a contribution of £1,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaking the law in Peterborough and Whittlesey.
Prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency (EA), Gurjit Bdesha explained how in November 2015 Newsome leased a site, on Dickens Street, Peterborough, from an 82-year-old man, under an exemption and set safety conditions allowing him to store a limited number of tyres for shredding. Newsome instead took an excess of tyres allowed under the exemption and stored them in a way that had no fi re breaks. This also broke the safety conditions as the site was nearby a residential area with the nearest home being 13 metres away. Despite being asked to move the tyres, Newsome made no eff ort to clear the site and the landlord ejected him. He later
broke into a lockaway on site, damaging the door, to take back equipment belonging to him. He left behind 87 tonnes of tyres (9,050) costing the landlord £8,121.
without being authorised with an environmental permit.
After being evicted from the site, the defendant then operated in Whittlesey
It was revealed there had been two failed attempts to arrest Newsome and two failed attempts to get him to voluntarily attend an interview with EA investigators.
Disaster as company fails to oversee anatomical waste
A TROUBLED waste firm that allowed hundreds of tonnes of human body parts to pile up at its centres has been stripped of its NHS contract. The Environment Agency (EA) was alerted in March that the fi rm, Healthcare Environment Services (HES), allowed waste to pile-up at its four sites in Normanton, Newcastle, Nottingham and Bradford, which all breached its environmental permits. The firm was served termination notices by 15 trusts on October 7, while it was reported the EA approved six other waste firms to help deal with the anatomical waste, which was supposed to be incinerated. HES’ Managing Director Garry Pettigrew said: “Every single part that people are referring to is dealt with securely, professionally, and any anatomical waste would be stored in fridges and at the
same time prioritised for outward bound.” However, in a statement to Parliament, Health Minister Stephen Barclay said NHS Improvement concluded the company “failed to demonstrate they were operating within their contractual limits”. The troubled fi rm collected around £31 million last year to burn waste, which included waste from hospitals at 50 trusts across England – but reportedly took on 'too much work' and the amount 'far outweighs the entire incineration capabilities of the UK'.
Neighbours of a HES disposal unit stockpiling 350 tonnes of body parts and human tissue complained about the ‘foul’ smell.
Healthcare Environmental Services’ site in Normanton, West Yorkshire, was housing
over several times more clinical waste than its permit allows. Instead of incinerating the waste, it had stockpiled for months at their sites. An EA spokeswoman stated the organisation launched a criminal investigation against the company. It was reported the company is still allowed to operate as it is responsible to get through its backlogged waste.
HES has blamed Britain’s creaking incinerator system and stated it had warned the authorities for years “ageing infrastructure” and “prolonged breakdowns” meant that fi rms which dispose of clinical waste cannot get through it quickly enough. But the Environment Agency dismissed the accusation – saying it had carried out an audit of the sector and no other company reported similar problems.
@SkipHireMag
SHWM November, 2018
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