November 23, 2005
Comhairle Admit Waste Licence Breaches
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar was fined a total of £2000 for failing to inspect waste arriving at its Rueval Landfill Site, resulting in barrels filled with the tar-like substance bitumen emulsion being illegally dumped from their Market Stance Depot.
The Local Authority pled guilty at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court yesterday (Tuesday 22 November) to failing to provide sufficient staffing levels at the Isle of Benbecula site, not carrying out visual checks of the waste to ensure it was suitable for disposal under the Waste Management Licence conditions and failing to provide a waste transfer note, describing the incoming waste type and quantity on Saturday 26 February 2005.
The case was referred to the Procurator Fiscal by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) after an investigation was carried out following a report from a member of the public.
Stuart Baird, SEPA's Western Isles Unit Manager said: "Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is responsible for the collection and safe disposal of the majority of waste arising from within the Western Isles. By failing to comply with the waste management licence conditions and their own working plan at Rueval Landfill Site, the local authority cannot ensure that the environment and public health is adequately protected.
"Although the site can accept waste such as bitumen emulsion, the fact that the Comhairle did not have a sufficient number of competent staff operating the landfill site and was not checking any loads of waste on Saturday 26 February 2005 meant there could be no certainty that the material being deposited was acceptable. This was clearly shown by the fact that full barrels of bitumen emulsion as well as waste barrels were dumped.
"Given the potential for hazards to arise from the uncontrolled disposal of waste materials, we cannot ignore these failures."
