A RECYCLING company has been fined £110,000 for breaching environmental regulations at a landfill site near Shere.
Sita UK was handed the punishment at Redhill Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (January 13), along with an order to pay £8,832 in prosecution costs.
The Environment Agency found the company had breached the conditions of its environmental permit for its site at Albury and for failing to comply with an Enforcement Notice.
It was found Sita had exceeded the landfill site's leachate limit, as set out in an environmental permit granted by the Environment Agency.
During 2013 there were eight leachate wells that were found to be non-compliant with the permit requirement of a maximum leachate level of 3m above the base.
The court heard how the type of waste deposited at the landfill – housed in a former sand quarry – will degrade and produce both gas and leachate, a potentially polluting liquid containing contaminants from the household, commercial and industrial waste deposited there since 1992.
In order to reduce the risk of leachate escaping from the site and polluting groundwater, the landfill is lined with an engineered system on the base consisting of clay overlain by a plastic liner. The clay extends across the base of each cell and up the side slope to a level of 3m above the base, with only the plastic liner rising higher.
The court heard how Sita had continued non-compliance of its leachate levels despite ongoing guidance and support from Environment Agency officers.
In 2013, pollution prevention and control officers made a number of visits to Albury Landfill to undertake monitoring, which confirmed that the leachate levels remained high.
Pollution prevention and control officer Neil Martin said: "We always seek to work with companies to help them operate within the law and we could not have done more than in this case.
"Although prosecution is the last resort, Sita UK Ltd left us with no choice but to take the matter to the courts. This shows how seriously we take these matters and demonstrates that we will not allow the environment to be put at risk as a consequence of not complying with our environmental permits."
Sita made the site compliant in February 2014 by supplementing treatment through the onsite leachate treatment plant with tankering leachate off site for treatment elsewhere.
The landfill has now ceased acceptance of waste for disposal and is undergoing final capping and restoration.
