Scrap yard owner imprisoned for illegal waste dumping

The owner of a scrap yard and recycling facility has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, for running an illegal waste site in Melksham, Wiltshire.

Melksham Metal Recycling owner Lee Hazel was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on ?18 February following two earlier court hearings. He was found guilty of four charges in relation to the dumping of waste on Queenfield Farm, Forest, Melksham at a hearing in June 2014, and he pleaded guilty to a further five charges for unauthorised waste activities at its Station Yard premises at a November 2015 hearing.

In August 2011 an enforcement officer from Wiltshire Council discovered piles of chalky stone, road surfacing and concrete pipes on land at Queenfield Farm. He noticed a trail of “chalky liquid” in the road, similar to the colour of the stone that had been tipped at the site, which led back to Melksham Metal Recycling’s site.

Environment Agency (EA) officers visited Queenfield Farm in September of that year, where they saw one of the company’s trucks laden with stone waste drive on to the farm site. Waste transfer ‘fines’ , small particles of waste, were also seen.

The EA requested copies of waste transfer notes from Hazel for the previous two years. He claimed the company had never tipped waste at the farm and said that the truck had been taking the waste to a permitted site in Chippenham.

This contradicted what the driver had told officers.

It emerged that the company had a contract to remove waste stone from a masons yard, which involved disposal at a licenced site. When the EA visited it saw cut pieces of stone, which it claimed were identical to those at the farm.

The EA said it warned Hazel on several occasions about the illegal disposal of waste at the farm, depositing waste on land without a permit, and his duty of care requirements.