Officers identified a “significant fire risk” at a large waste processing site at Melton in East Yorkshire, during a national crackdown.

Operation Unite saw the Environment Agency (EA) carry out inspections at 42 sites across England, which resulted in 30 new criminal investigations.

It followed criticism of its inspection regime by the watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection in May.

The OEP found that 29% of sites in 2022, which weren’t inspected were “automatically recorded as being in the highest compliance band”. Nearly half of inspections between 2018 and 2022 were conducted remotely.

The EA's inspection revealed a pile of shredded wood, around 4000m3 in volume, many times over the maximum guideline of 450m3. Transwaste have since taken action to reduce fire risk

placeholder image — The EA's inspection revealed a pile of shredded wood, around 4000m3 in volume, many times over the maximum guideline of 450m3. Transwaste have since taken action to reduce fire risk

The EA said its officers identified a “significant fire risk and other non-compliances” during an inspection at Transwaste Aggregates and Recycling Limited at Melton in early July.

The site stores bales of refuse derived fuel, made from shredding black bin bag waste, which is destined for incineration at power stations.

The EA said some of the waste was damaged and there was too big a volume to be stored safely “causing an unacceptable fire risk”. One pile contained around 1,200 tonnes of shredded waste.

Transwaste was told it needed to address the issues immediately.

Officials said the volume of waste stored and lack of adequate fire breaks caused an unacceptable fire risk A suspension notice was served following the inspection on July 17, which has now been lifted, after Transwaste took action to address fire risk.

The EA served a suspension notice after a subsequent operation found the company was still failing to meet its obligations. Since then action has been taken to address the fire risk and the suspension notice is being withdrawn.

However, the EA said, further works to ensure they are compliant with their permit are required.

The government has committed an extra £45 million ringfenced over three financial years to support waste enforcement operations.

EA chief executive Philip Duffy said further operations were planned, adding: “This campaign has shown what is possible when we combine intelligence, coordination and determination - and it’s just the beginning.”

The OEP said inspections had not been delivered in line with regulatory guidance and serious non-compliance was not being addressed or followed up.