A man has been fined for allowing his company to dump 20t of abestos-contaminated waste on farmland in Stocksfield.
35-year-old Grant Brown of Brampton Gardens, Throckley, Newcastle, trading as GB Waste Management, was ordered to pay compensation of more than £7,000 to the landowner, who was left to clear up the mess.
In total it cost the landowner more than £32,000 to clear the waste, £7,000 of which was not covered by insurance.
The Environment Agency was able to trace the waste on the farm back to Brown’s company as it contained personal identifiable items, as well as construction and domestic waste.
Abestos was found while the waste was being cleared, which was traced back to the clearance of a Newcastle City Centre Council property.
During the Environment Agency’s investigation it asked for all waste transfer notes for the company produced during 2021, but only those created by other companies were produced.
Brown’s company also did not have an environmental permit.
Brown pleaded guilty to allowing his company to cause waste to be dumped on farmland in Stocksfield, failing to comply with duty of care legislation, and failing to produce waste transfer notes.
He was also ordered to pay costs of over £4,000 and banned from being a company director for three years.
Gary Wallace, area environment manager for the Environment Agency in the North East, commented:
“Waste criminals target property and land to dump waste they’ve illegally collected and disappear, leaving a huge clean-up bill for landowners, and dumped waste causes contamination and is a major fire risk.
“In this case we were able to trace the waste back to Brown’s company and after an Environment Agency investigation he’s been put before the courts for his offending.”
