20/05/2005 - A Wells man
who ran a reclamation yard has been ordered
to pay £3,493 in fines and costs for
illegally storing potentially hazardous waste
in his workshop.
Environment Agency officers visited the premises
of Haydn Davies at the Wells Reclamation Company,
Coxley on March 18, 2004 after receiving an
anonymous tip-off about activities at the
site.
Mr Davies gave permission for an employee
to show the officers around. They saw the
paint stripping area where a caustic soda
bath was located and where stripped wooden
doors were rinsed down, along with the underground
tank into which the effluent drained.
During a return visit by officers on March
22, Mr Davies said he was unaware of any overflow
from the tank and that it should all go to
a soakaway. The officers pointed out that
even if this was the case it would still constitute
the illegal disposal of potentially hazardous
waste.
A sample taken from the underground tank
showed elevated levels of lead, biochemical
oxygen demand, suspended solids, chromium,
arsenic, copper and zinc. The pH sample from
the underground tank was 12 which indicates
a strongly alkaline solution.
Mr Davies removed the remaining effluent
from the site and hasn’t stripped any more
wood at the workshop.
Haydn Davies, 67, of the Wells Reclaimation
Company, Wells Road, Coxley, was today fined
a total of £2,000 by Wells Magistrates
and ordered to pay £1,493 costs after
pleading guilty to two offences under the
Environmental Protection Act 11000 including
knowingly permitting caustic soda and paint
residues, a controlled waste, to be treated,
kept or disposed of on land that did not have
a waste management licence in force.
"Mr Davies should have been more aware
of his responsibilities as a producer of controlled
waste. Other people in a similar line of business
need to be made aware that these wastes need
careful and correct disposal," said Abigail
Rood for the Environment Agency.
Members of the public can report suspected
pollution incidents to the Environment Agency
on Tel: 0800 80 70 60.
