A Cornwall firm has been found guilty of unpermitted storage and disposal of waste and must repay £600,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Roger and Angela Smith, trading as R & A Cleansing, pleaded guilty to the offences at Truro Crown Court. Both defendants were sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, concurrent on each charge. They must also remediate the site where the offences took place within 18 months.
Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the couple must now repay £600,000. They were also ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
R & A Cleansing Services are a liquid waste collection service that has been operating around the Cornwall area for 25 years.
In 2023, the Environment Agency received an anonymous report that the company were illegally storing and disposing of liquid waste on land owned by the husband-and-wife team, who also reside on site in a residential property.
While the company is a registered waste carrier, it holds no permits or waste exemptions, which would allow waste to be stored, treated or disposed of on site.
Angela Smith stated that no disposal of waste had taken place on site and that the waste was being stored in underground tanks.
However, Environment Agency officers found evidence of several underground tanks, two separate pools of heavily polluted water, tanker pipes lying on the ground, a pile of mixed domestic and building waste, and evidence of waste burning.
Waste Transfer Notes (WTNs) indicated that the wastes collected by the defendants included effluent treatments, animal tissue waste, including blood, and septic tank sludge.
Commenting on the sentencing, Sally Turberville, enforcement officer at the Environment Agency, said: “It was very concerning that large quantities of untreated mixed liquid wastes were stored illegally in unserviceable underground tanks and open pits.”
“Waste was discharged straight onto the agricultural ground owned by the defendants , and after more than 25 years in the waste collection business, they should have been fully aware of the regulations.”
“As the business grew, there was no investment in appropriate equipment or infrastructure, no application made for an environmental permit.”