THE owner of a Tavistock-based skip hire business was last week ordered to pay £1,500 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to depositing, treating and disposing of waste on land at Tavistock without the necessary licence, in a case brought by the Environment Agency. The agency received complaints from the public and other waste companies regarding King Construction, run by Joseph McLaughlin, and its activities at Pixon Lane. An investigation confirmed that controlled waste was brought and dumped in Pixon Lane before being sorted into waste types to include wood, metal, and builders' waste. Mr McLaughlin said it was being stored in preparation for construction of a new entrance to the site, but no exemption existed for this activity. Further inquiries revealed five skips of waste had been deposited, which could have contained polluting or hazardous material. It was also believed that a substantial amount of waste had been burned on the site. The court heard by pre-sorting the waste, Mr McLaughlin could increase his profitability at the expense of other operators who do not illegally pre-sort the waste. Appearing before Plymouth magistrates, Mr McLaughlin, of Watts Road, Tavistock, was fined a total of £900 and ordered to pay £600 costs after pleading guilty to six offences relating to the depositing, treating and burning of controlled waste without a waste management licence contrary to Section 33(1) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The magistrates warned him that if he committed any further offences of this type he could face a prison sentence. 'The sorting of waste requires a waste management licence and the storage of inert material requires an exemption but there were no such waste licences or exemptions in force for this company,' said Nick Keen, from the Environment Agency.
