Scrapyard owner admits site was a public health hazard

COURT: Unpaid work order for man who breached environmental act

The owner of a Kirkcaldy scrapyard has been sentenced to unpaid work in the community after allowing his premises to become a public health hazard.

William Noble, 47, kept skips full of waste and cars with algae growing on the windscreens at the yard in the town’s Pathhead area.

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, Noble was sentenced to a community payback order requiring him to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.

He had previously pleaded guilty to contravening the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The court heard there were a number of scrap cars, car transporters and skips full of waste at the site on the junction of Smeaton Road and Denburn Road.

The skips contained a variety of waste including old tyres, scrap metal, rubble, textiles, plastics, wood, and tree and shrub cuttings.

Sara Shaw, procurator fiscal for wildlife and environment, said: “The accused in this case was well aware he was breaching environmental legislation by keeping potentially hazardous waste material on his property.

“By allowing this material to be stored on the site, he undermined the regulatory regime at a cost to other operators who take care to store waste within the bounds of the law.”

The accused runs Noble Recycling, based at Randolph Place, which is described as “Fife’s leading scrap metal and waste management company”.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had first inspected his Pathhead site at the end of 2014 and found 149 cars, four car transporters and 16 skips as well as waste tyres and metals.

The number of vehicles and skips were seen to reduce on subsequent inspections but remained on site.

Some of the cars had algae growing in the windscreens and plants sprouting through the tyres demonstrating that they were waste and clearly not roadworthy.

To keep them lawfully would have required a licence and strict conditions to be met.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was told there had been a number of acts of vandalism and fire-raising at nearby sites also owned and operated by the accused, and that there was a risk of exposure to pollutants and hazardous chemicals had the site in question caught fire.

Some of the cars had algae growing in the windscreens and plants sprouting through the tyres

Noble’s scrapyard was inspected by environmental officers who found it to be in a grave state.