Waste management firm fined for odour breaches

A leading UK waste management provider was ordered to pay £26,737 this week for a breach of odour conditions.

Veolia was fined for a consistent breach in conditions at the High Heavens composting facility in High Wycombe between June and December 2006. Thames Water Services Limited operated the business at the time of the breaches, but Veolia took over management of the site – and responsibility for the breaches – in November 2007. 

High Heavens is a composting facility and composts kerbside-collected organic wastes and civic amenity green waste.  It is permitted to take up to 40,000 tonnes of waste per year. 

High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard that the permit at High Heavens has conditions set by the Environment Agency which ensure all emissions to air are free from odours which could pollute the environment, harm human health or damage the local area. Veolia pleaded guilty to breaching the odour condition of the permit at High Heavens Composting Facility. 

The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs to the Environment Agency of £14,737. Environment officer Holly Linham said: “We were first alerted to the odour problems at the site from members of the public. They started to telephone our pollution incident hotline number and reported bad smells coming from the site.

"We went out and conducted odour surveys and detected bad smells from the site on 20 separate occasions. On numerous occasions we found the odour to be offensive and considered it to be having a significant negative impact on the local area.” 

The Environment Agency received over 170 complaints from local residents about the waste site. The Agency says that many complainants stated that the odour was spoiling the enjoyment of their homes and gardens and windows and doors had to be shut to limit the smell entering their homes. Several residents are said to have suffered from stress and others have stated that the offensive odour was “ruining their lives”. 

Thames Water Servicing Limited did use measures to try and manage the problem but none of them eradicated the smell. 

Holly Linham continued: “It is important to send out a clear message to the waste industry showing that odour problems will be investigated and action can be taken. We are currently establishing an odour network to provide greater support to officers dealing with odorous sites.  If people notice odours coming from a waste site they should report them to our incident hotline.