EPA Prosecutes Haytonvale Developments Ltd

On the 9th January 2006 at Court 54, Richmond Hospital, Dublin, Haytonvale Developments Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge brought by the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to an offence under Sections 39(1) and 39(9) of the Waste Management Acts 1996 - 2003 for breaches of its Waste Licence (Reg. No. 137-1).

The Company admitted breaching a condition of its licence by:

• Failing to submit a written Emergency Response Procedure to the Agency for its agreement, prior to the commencement of works on site.

The Emergency Response Procedure addresses any emergency situations that may originate on the facility and includes provision for minimising the effects of any emergency on the environment.

On hearing details of the offence from an EPA inspector, Judge Anne Watkins imposed a fine totalling €50.00 and the EPA’s costs of €25,000 were also awarded.

Haytonvale Developments Ltd was granted a waste licence (Reg. No. 137-1) on 12th September 2001 for Waste Recovery Activities –

• Class 2 - Recycling or reclamation of organic substances, which are not used as solvents (including composting and other biological transformation processes).
• Class 4 - Recycling or reclamation of other inorganic materials.

The facility was located at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin. and has since ceased to operate on this site following surrender of their licence.

This prosecution was taken following a site inspection undertaken by the Office of Environmental Enforcement on 28th November 2003 and an audit on 10th December 2003.