A company director who ran three illegal waste sites in Manchester has been jailed for 15 months and disqualified from running a company for six years.
Barry Kilroe of J25 Recycling Ltd, Recovered Fuels Shipping Ltd, and Asset and Land Group Ltd pleaded guilty to 10 charges relating to the unlawful operation of sites in Stockport, Salford, and Warrington Docks.
Transport manager and fellow director Jane Williams was fined a total of £500 and Richard James Davies was given a conditional discharge of 12 months.
Williams admitted to one charge relating to storing waste in Salford in excess of its capacity and a second site operating without an EA permit.
Davies pleaded guilty to failing to provide and implement an environmental management system at the site found in Stockport.
In August 2013 a major fire broke out there that lasted for 41 days and resulted in the closure of the M60 motorway, leading to three weeks of disruption to traffic and significant disruption of local businesses.
As a result of the fire a nearby river was polluted by the firefighting water.
A fire also broke out in March 2014 at the site in Salford, leading to Network Rail closing a railway line. This fire lasted 19 days and main routes to Manchester City Centre were forced to close and local businesses were affected by falling ash.
Mr Kilroe failed to remove the waste following the fire and left the landowner the task of removing over 14,000 tonnes of waste.
As a result of Mr Kilroe’s activities, another landowner must now clear the site of an estimated 75,000 tonnes of waste, which will cost in excess of £10 million to send to landfill.
Lee Rawlinson, Area Director for Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire at Environment Agency, said:
This is one of the biggest cases the Environment Agency has prosecuted, we have been committed to do so because of the severity of the offence and cost and impact on the environment, communities and business. It has resulted in significant financial impacts to legitimate businesses.
“The Environment Agency would like to thank partners including Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) and United Utilities as the impact would have been even greater had it not been for their tireless effort and cooperation to get the fires under control.”
In a previous case Kilroe was fined £1,250 for his permit being breached at sites between 2010 and 2012.
