Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Man jailed after dumping 100,000 tons of hazardous waste in quarry
AMAN who illegally dumped 100,000 tons of hazardous waste close to the main supply of drinking water for Bristol has been jailed.
And now a huge operation is under way to try to monitor the toxic dump he created to make sure it doesn’t leak into the streams that fill up the huge reservoir, just four miles south of Bristol.
The crime has already cost the authorities millions in a clean-up operation, and a previous court hearing was told that if it does get into the reservoir, the bill could be as much as £9 billion.
Analysis of the ground showed that about half the samples were hazardous and either carcinogenic or ecotoxic, containing chopped/ shredded plastics, metals and foam.
It has now been described as one of the “most serious risks of harm in the country during the past 30 years” by shocked Environment Agency bosses.
Mark Foley, who runs the company that operated the landfill waste dump, has been jailed for two years and three months at Bristol Crown Court.
Foley had a permit to fill Stowey Quarry, near Chew Valley reservoir, with what is classed as ‘clean’ or ‘non-hazardous’ waste – replacing the limestone that had been quarried from the ground for decades with soil and builders’ rubble after he took on the site in 2012.
But instead, Bristol Crown Court heard the firm he ran accepted a huge range of hazardous waste for years, mislabelling it with dodgy record-keeping.
The court heard the offence Foley was eventually charged with happened within the first nine months of 2016, sparking an intensive investigation by the Environment Agency into the management of the site.
Foley was also jailed for a further 18 weeks, to be served concurrently, for supplying false information to the Environment Agency investigators, and his firm ME Foley (Contractors) Ltd, failed to provide the court with any company accounts, and was itself fined £72,000.
The hazardous waste was covered over by soil, so the Environment
Agency is still monitoring it and checking for any chemical leaks.
Investigators still aren’t exactly sure what Foley’s firm allowed to be dumped there, and how long the illegal activity had been going on.
As well as secretly dumping hazardous waste when the quarry was only supposed to take ‘clean’ waste, Foley also accepted far more waste than his permit allowed.
“Stowey Quarry was only permitted to accept ‘clean’ and ‘non-hazardous’ material including soil and construction waste for recovery purposes – to build bunds and embankments in the quarry,” said an Environment Agency spokesperson.
“Foley, as the site operator, was responsible for checking waste arriving
at the site to ensure it was suitable. An investigation showed the rules were routinely flouted,” he added.
Despite repeated warnings, the illegal tipping and waste disposal continued, and by October 2016, the Environment Agency served a suspension notice that cancelled the permit and stopped the site from operating straight away.
Then workers at the Environment Agency were able to access the site properly and work out what exactly had been dumped there.
“The Environment Agency launched an investigation to establish the potential risk to human health and the environment from the illegal waste activities at the site. Samples taken from trial pits and bore holes revealed a high percentage of chopped/ shredded plastics, metals, foam and other man-made materials. Analysis showed that about half the samples were hazardous and either carcinogenic or ecotoxic,” he said.
Now, four and a half years on, monitoring of the huge site is still going on.
“The investigation included the monitoring of landfill gases and sampling of nearby streams that showed an elevated concentration of gases together with leachate breaking out onto the surface of some surrounding fields,” said an Environment Agency spokesperson.
“Much of the waste arriving at Stowey Quarry was misleadingly described as a ‘soil substitute’ in a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules. The storage and disposal of hazardous material contravened the site’s permit that only allowed clean/ inert waste.
“Not only was the site dishonestly accepting the wrong type of waste, the operator was also lying about the amount being received. After checking waste transfer notes provided by the waste producers and hauliers, it is estimated that in 2016 alone, almost 95,000 tonnes of waste was deposited at Stowey Quarry – double
the 44,950 tonnes declared by M E Foley (Contractors) Ltd,” he added.
The detail of the charges put to Foley, from Cardiff, reveal what the Environment Agency have found at the site. It states Foley’s firm allowed to be dumped ‘shredded fragmentiser waste, automotive shredded residue, domestic waste, mixed waste fines and other waste including hazardous waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health’.
Back in October 2019, at an early court hearing into the case held before magistrates in Weston-superMare, Brendan Moorehouse, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said: “With the huge harm, the huge
Much of the waste arriving at Stowey Quarry was misleadingly described as a ‘soil substitute’ in a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules EA SPOKESPERSON
cost of clean up and the risk to public health, this is an extremely serious case. The minimum cost of clean up is in excess of £50 million, and should the contaminants leach into the Bristol city water supply it could cost up to £9 billion,” he added.
After Foley was jailed, Rebecca Kirk of the Environment Agency, said: “It has taken three years of meticulous work for our investigation into Stowey Quarry to reach this stage. This was environmental offending of the highest order
“I am pleased the judge acknowledged the seriousness of the offences committed and this is reflected in the sentences being handed down to those who orchestrate and take advantage of such criminal practice and show a blatant disregard to the environment and public health,” she added.