Ruby Farm pollution

Ruby Waste Management Limited was ordered to pay £ 26,000 in fines and costs for stockpiling waste at a site near Newton Abbot and polluting a nearby stream. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

Ruby Farm is a former landfill that was licensed to accept inert waste such as soil, stones and rubble. The landfill was closed to the final deposit of waste following the introduction of new legislation in 2006. Waste transfer operations however continued to operate at the site.

During a routine monitoring visit to the former landfill on November 30, 2006, Agency officers saw a large heap of waste known as ‘fines’ on the site. A short distance away, a strong smelling black liquid (leachate) was emerging from the ground. The liquid flowed across a field and into a tributary of the Aller Brook. A leachate sample taken contained high levels of ammonia (36.1 milligrams per litre). Ammonia is highly toxic to fish, even at low concentrations.

The ‘fines’ came from the waste transfer station at Ruby Farm where mixed skip waste was being separated into ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ waste before being crushed and screened. The smallest parts of the waste left after this process are known as ‘fines’. Laboratory analysis of the waste indicated that some samples were of a hazardous nature and the waste was therefore only suitable for disposal at an appropriately licensed site.

The company admitted the leachate came from the waste heaps and claimed the ‘fines’ had been deposited for further processing prior to removal from the site. Due to the nature of the waste neither of these operations are covered by a waste management licence.

‘This waste was deposited illegally and led to pollution of the nearby watercourse. The company failed to take sufficient steps to ensure the waste was handled in a responsible way and that is why the Environment Agency took this action’, said Richard Cloke for the Environment Agency.

Ruby Waste Management, of Moorgate House, King Street, Newton Abbot was fined £ 10,000 by Newton Abbot magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 including keeping controlled waste on land at Ruby Farm without a waste management licence.

The company also admitted causing noxious, poisonous or polluting matter, namely leachate, to enter controlled waters at Abbotskerswell, Newton Abbot contrary to Section 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991. The magistrates fined the company £ 14,000 for this offence. The Environment Agency’s application for costs of £ 2,000 were awarded in full.