Co Antrim firms fined £13,000 for waste disposal offences

Two Co Antrim companies have been fined a total of £13,000 for waste disposal offences.

Aquaforce Ltd of Newtownabbey and Delta Print & Packaging Ltd of Blackstaff Road, Belfast, were fined £7,000 and £6,000 respectively for offences under the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997 and for failing to comply with requirements specified in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.

Aquaforce had been transporting waste to a site, which had no authority to accept and was then burning the waste. After three warnings from the DOE Environment and Heritage Service, the company was eventually prosecuted.

Delta Print & Packaging Ltd, meanwhile, pleaded guilty at Belfast Magistrates Court to four offences over a two-year period for:

• failure to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste in relation to the 2001 compliance year;
• failure to register with the department for the 2002 compliance year;
• failure to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste in relation to the 2002 compliance year;
• failure to furnish any return required by the Department.

A DoE spokesperson said Delta Print & Packaging had failed to recycle, or have recycled on its behalf, 342 tonnes of packaging waste. It further failed to recover, or have recovered on its behalf, 341 tonnes of packaging waste.

(MB/GMCG)