Leeds waste management business fined after kicking up a stink

Morley-based waste firm Associated Waste Management has been fined £125,000 for pollution at its Leeds and Bradford sites.

It was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on 6 March after admitting environmental offences and causing odour pollution at its Gelderd Road, Leeds and Canal Road, Bradford sites.

The Environmental Agency said it had been prosecuted following repeat odour problems affecting local residents, between June 2012 and October 2013.

Environment Agency officers carried out around 75 odour assessments, and most of them recorded smells that were ‘likely to cause offence to human senses’.

It suspended the company’s permit for the Leeds facility in October 2013, preventing it from bringing any more waste onto the site until it had made improvements to its odour management plan. This new plan was approved that month and the permit was reinstated.

Between March and July 2013, AWM’s Bradford site was complained about by local residents on 49 separate dates.

An inspection visit in March 2013 revealed that the company was not closing the shutters on a tipping shed used by bin wagons, which allowed the smell of rotting waste to leave the site.

The company’s first revision of its odour management plan, submitted in August that year, was rejected as inadequate and it wasn’t until October that a new plan was approved.

The company told the court that it had relied upon an external company that had approached it regarding odour suppression equipment, which had not worked.

AWM was fined £75,000 for the Leeds offence, and £50,000 for the Bradford offence. It was also ordered to pay £75,000 in legal costs.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said after the hearing: “Waste sites like those managed by AWM can have a detrimental impact on local communities if they are not managed properly. That’s why it is vital that operators adhere to environmental regulations and the conditions on their environmental permits.

“In this case, AWM failed to maintain high standards of odour management at its facilities in Leeds and Bradford, and local residents suffered as a result. We hope today’s outcome demonstrates that odour pollution is not acceptable and that the Environment Agency will take action against businesses that fail to adhere to permitting rules.”