A director at a recycling company has pleaded guilty to leaving more than 2,000 tonnes of waste piled up without being properly dealt with.
The Environment Agency said Samual Hussan, (61) of Bevercotes Close, Newark, wasn’t adequately separating waste, was allowing rubbish to be blown around in the wind, and allowed contaminated pools of water to accumulate.
Hussan is the director of Sammy Recycling Limited which, the agency said, ran the site at Fen Lane in Long Bennington on the Nottinghamshire-Lincolnshire border. The agency said it was not the first time he had failed to properly manage a site.
It said officers visited Fen Lane following complaints and found plastic waste being blown around and no fences to stop it.
It said he was warned about their concerns but a month later officers returned to find some of the waste not being separated properly, in breach of the rules for the site.
It said when Sammy Recycling Ltd left Fen Lane in early 2019 “huge” amounts of waste were left behind, creating pools of contaminated standing water.
It calculated that more than 2,000 tonnes of waste was there, including more than 1,600 tonnes of plastic and plastic shredded waste and 510 tonnes of carpet.
Although some of the waste was later sold the agency said there was evidence of attempts to burn some of the plastic – with bales of waste splitting open and broken fencing leaving the site open to possible arson attacks.
The agency said Hussan appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on May 6, having previously pleaded guilty to some of the charges in January.
It said he pleaded guilty to operating a waste site without the right environmental permit, and admitted keeping waste in a manner likely to pollute the environment of harm human health arising from the risk of fire.
Hussan and Sammy Recycling additionally admitted failing to provide waste transfer notes.
It said Hussan was sentenced to 26 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, and was disqualified from being a director for five years. He was told to pay £2,000 in costs as well as a victim surcharge of £100. Sammy Recycling was fined £1,000.
The Environment Agency said only last month Hussan had received a 20-week suspended prison sentence – also suspended for two years – for operating another site, this time in Newark, where waste had been illegally burned.
Sentencing for the latest offence, District Judge Veits told Hussan that it was clear he had no idea how to run the business.
He said Hussan’s actions had been “clearly deliberate” and that he had “disregarded everything”.
Environment manager Yvonne Daly said: “We take illegal waste activity very seriously and will take the necessary action to and prosecute those responsible.
“We expect businesses to take responsibility for their operations, which Mr Hussan failed to do and, in the process, left the local population at risk.
“Businesses must keep documentation which describes the waste, how it was stored, the person whom it was transferred to and where the waste was disposed.
“Failure to do so can be punished by a fixed penalty notice or a prosecution and fine if the case goes to court.”
