Danger waste firm fined £20,000

Grove Environmental Ltd admitted three charges relating to illegally operating a waste site and was fined £20,000, as well as costs of £11,000, at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

These charges were in addition to £5,000 which the firm, based at Whitelea Grove Trading Estate, had already paid out voluntarily.

Barry Berlin, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, told the court that the company committed deliberate breaches of environmental law for commercial advantage and that, as a result, it was able to undercut competitors in a savage market.

Although Grove Environmental did have an environmental permit, Environment Agency officers found waste that the company was not permitted to keep such as asbestos and oil.

Passing sentence, District Judge Jonathan Bennett said that the company had committed a “reckless breach of the law”. He commented that the firm had “lucrative contracts” and that the way they operated the site had created an “unfair market”.