Sludge Watch ==> UK- Wales sludge company fined £60,000

[Maureen Reilly]

UK. South West Wales waste management company fined £60,000 for pollution 
offences
Wednesday, 08 November 2006
Environmental news:


Agresol Ltd, a waste management company from South West Wales was fined a 
total of £54,000 and ordered to pay costs of over £2,500 for polluting 
rivers and mis-handling water treatment sludge waste. Two of Agresol's 
directors were fined a further £3,000 each in the case brought by 
Environment Agency Wales at Ammanford Magistrates Court on Monday 6 October 
2006.

The waste was produced at Welsh Water's Felindre water treatment works and 
Agresol was contracted to spread the sludge on agricultural land as a soil 
conditioner.

On three occasions, due to the poor supervision of the spreading operation, 
the waste was allowed to run off the land and enter a river. Officers from 
Environment Agency Wales attended all three incidents, one on a tributary of 
the Afon Llan at Llangyfelach and two on the Afon Lash in the Llandybie 
area. Each time they found that the watercourses were polluted with the fine 
iron rich sediment. This material smothers the bed of the stream killing any 
aquatic life and hindering fish from spawning. The source of the pollution 
was traced back to Agresol's operation.

The Company pleaded guilty to three offences contrary to the Environmental 
Protection Act 1990 and a further three offences contrary to the Water 
Resources Act 1991.

Due to the severity of the pollution, Environment Agency Wales prosecuted 
Agresol under both waste management and water pollution legislation. They 
also decided to prosecute Agresol's directors in relation to the third 
incident in view of the Company's apparent failure to learn from the earlier 
failings and improve working practices to prevent further pollution.

Speaking after the court case, an Environment Agency Wales spokesperson 
said: "These were serious pollution incidents. We have been working hard 
towards improved water quality in all our rivers and any pollution is a step 
backwards for the rivers affected. We had hoped that Agresol would have 
learned the lesson after the first incident. We were very disappointed that 
they ignored this 'wake up call' and allowed this waste to escape on another 
two occasions.

"We will not tolerate the pollution of our streams and rivers or the 
mis-management of waste. We were very pleased at the levels of fines imposed 
by the court and hope that this serves as a lesson to others who might be 
tempted to cut corners when handling wastes or other potentially polluting 
materials."
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http://www.bymnews.com/new/content/view/37734/82/