Cats and Dust Limited have been fined £10,000 after its Director and former Director were prosecuted for operating waste sites without the required environmental permits.
They were also charged with falsifying documents connected to hazardous waste disposal.
On Friday 12 September, at Preston Crown Court, Cats and Dust Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs.
The company’s Director, Cavin Mears, 45, also received a 12-month community order, requiring 200 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £5,360 in compensation to the Environment Agency, along with £6,000 in costs.
Its former Director, Stephen Bryce, 45, was given a 12-month community order requiring 150 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £6,000 in costs.
The court heard that Mears and Bryce were previously directors of RF Recycling Ltd, a company operating a regulated facility out of an industrial Estate in Lancashire without a permit.
Following a visit from the Environment Agency in October 2021, RF Recycling ceased trading. However, Cats and Dust Ltd commenced trading immediately afterwards, operating unlawfully from a separate unit within the same trading estate until January 2022.
By continuing operations despite warnings and by falsifying paperwork, these defendants demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law.
Cavin Mears, a former director of RF Recycling Ltd, is the sole director of Cats and Dust Ltd. Stephen Bryce resigned as a director in September 2021, shortly before Cats and Dust Ltd began trading.
During sentencing, the judge noted that both men had long experience in the waste industry, including work with hazardous materials, and should have been fully aware of their legal responsibilities.
He described their conduct as reckless at the outset, but later deliberate and financially motivated, with falsified paperwork used to conceal their actions.
He added that their disregard for regulations demonstrated that they ‘didn’t care about obligations and didn’t care about the impact on people, property or the environment.’
Commenting on the case, Shannon Nicholson, Environmental Crime Team Leader at the Environment Agency, said: “This case shows that those who attempt to profit from waste crime will be held to account.
“Handling hazardous materials without the correct permits is a serious offence which can put communities and the environment at risk, while also undercutting legitimate businesses.
“By continuing operations despite warnings and by falsifying paperwork, these defendants demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law.”