The Environment Agency is taking
enforcement action against a Somerset animal carcass
incineration plant following complaints about
offensive odours and smoke.
An enforcement notice has been
served on Southern Counties Environmental Services
Ltd, which operates the unit at Dimmer near Castle
Cary.
The action was taken after the
Agency received a number of complaints about the
plant from residents in the area, especially in
the nearby village of Alford and a user of the
adjacent Dimmer recycling facility. Complainants
included Cary Moor Parish Council and a local
County Councillor.
Problems include seriously offensive
odours and smoke being released from the plant
in contravention of its operating licence. This
licence, or permit, was issued in December 2005
and contains conditions partly based on the EU
Waste Incineration Directive that sets the European
standard for such plants.
The site operator has to monitor
and report its releases to the environment. There
has been a concern with the plant not complying
with its permitted release levels of carbon monoxide
from the main incinerator exhaust chimneys and
this is an issue the Enforcement Notice requires
the company to address. The notice also requires
improvements in maintenance at the plant after
the Agency discovered that not all the operator’s
scheduled maintenance had been carried out.
‘We expect to see the necessary
improvements carried out quickly to resolve this
situation and will have to consider further action
if there is continued non-compliance,’ said Tim
Loveday, for the Environment Agency.
‘Local residents have been very
patient and understanding of the need for the
incinerator and the operator needs to take action
to prevent any further problems causing them offence.
We are especially keen to make sure people are
not put off using the recycling centre and the
residents of Alford are not affected by unacceptable
odours.’
‘We would encourage local residents
to record any further problems and to contact
us by our hotline 0800 80 70 60 so that we can
closely monitor the situation,’ said Tim Loveday.
The incineration plant has operated
at Dimmer since 1999 and originally only disposed
of carcasses under the Over 30 Month Scheme as
part of the Government’s response to the BSE crisis.
Since 2005 it has also taken dead animals under
contracts arranged through the Rural Payments
Agency as, under recent legislation, carcasses
can no longer be disposed of on farms. This has
changed the nature of some of the operations carried
out at the plant.
The Agency served enforcement
notices against the previous owners of the plant,
Bronzeoak Thermal Processing Ltd.
