Somerset haulage firm fined for waste offence

A company has been ordered to pay £10,476 in fines and costs for illegally disposing of thousands of tonnes of waste on agricultural land near Exeter.

The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

In 2016 Minster Tippers Limited deposited 4,659 tonnes of non-hazardous soil and sub-soil on a field at Poltimore, Exeter. The waste came from development sites around Exeter and was four and a half times the limit allowed by the Environment Agency under an authorisation known as an U1 waste exemption. The maximum limit for soil and sub-soil permitted under a U1 is 1,000 tonnes.

The waste was used to level off a substantial part of a field, significantly altering its character and that of the surrounding landscape. The defendant told the Environment Agency that while they had obtained a copy of the site’s U1 waste exemption they acknowledged they’d failed to comply with its tonnage limits.