A Teesside firm has been told to pay almost £26,000 after breaching its environmental permit and releasing "unregulated and smelly gases" into the air near its West Boldon plant.
The firm - BioConstruct New Energy Limited of Stockton - operates an anaerobic digestion plant in South Tyneside at Wardley Colliery. It was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for failing to abide by its permit, and then failing to comply with two enforcement notices.
The company pleaded guilty at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court on February 28 - and was told to pay almost £26,000 in fines and court costs. It was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of almost £10,000.
The breach of its odour management plan at the South Tyneside plant had an "awful" impact on local people, the Environment Agency's representative said.
Andrew Turner, area environment manager at the Environment Agency in the North East, said: "We understand how awful it is for residents to suffer when waste sites fail in their obligation to ensure there is no odour coming from their sites.
"Environmental permits are in place to protect the public and environment and this fine should serve as a warning that the Environment Agency will not hesitate to bring to court and prosecute companies who breach their permits and flout the law."
The Environment Agency investigated the plant, which processes waste, after receiving more than 25 complaints about smells coming from the plant on June 26 2020. Officers attended and verified these complaints, and BioConstruct's officials said there were issues with its emergency gas flare - which burns off excess gas.
Due to this, the Environment Agency said it was told that a pressure release valve had operated which "releases raw smelly gas into the atmosphere in an emergency to prevent an explosion". Inspectors then found several breaches of BioConstruct's odour management plan.
In 2021 though, inspectors found odour continued to be an issue and in July and September issued two enforcement notices which required the firm to make improvements to how smelly gases were dealt with. Neither noticed was complied with, and the firm said this was due to supply chain issues.
In court, it was accepted that BioConstruct has "shown remorse and accepted responsibility". The court also accepted the offending had not been commercially motivated. The company had previously been fined in 2019 for causing off-site odour pollution at another of its plants in Middlesbrough.
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