Messy Blaydon Landfill bosses slapped with fines over stinking rubbish fiasco!
Firms Fined After Dump Disaster
Two firms have finally been hit with penalties after causing major headaches for Blaydon residents with smelly rubbish and litter escaping from the Gateshead landfill site.
Octagon Green Solutions Ltd and its director Kevin John Wanless, 50, from Lead Road, Blaydon, alongside Recyclogical Ltd and 123 Solutions Ltd, faced the music in court. The companies were fined £1,800, while Wanless was fined £450 for the landfill chaos.
Environment Agency Cracks Down
“Our officers have persisted through difficult hurdles and legal challenges to bring this case to 123 face of waste at Blaydon Landfill,” said Andrew Turner, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in the North East.
Odour Spread More Than 1km
The Blaydon landfill had permissions to handle up to 409,000 tonnes of waste annually. But in November 2018, an Environment Agency officer warned the site was nearly over the limit and ordered it to stop accepting waste until the new year.
Despite that, waste kept arriving in December 2018. In total, the site took in 487,368 tonnes — a staggering 19% over the allowance. Wanless claimed this was just an “oversight.”
February 2019 brought fresh complaints from locals suffering the smell. An environmental officer visited and could detect the odour more than 1km away from the site.
On inspection, the waste piled up to around 15 metres, looking like a “cliff face” and was left uncovered. The officer promptly suspended the site’s permit until the rubbish was properly covered.
Negligence Near Homes Spurs Court Ruling
The defendants argued the site had long been troublesome under previous operators. Recyclogical was taken over in 2020, and the new owners made efforts to engage with the community.
The court wasn’t impressed. It ruled the companies were negligent, especially given the site’s close proximity to nearby housing and the extended time the problems were allowed to fester.
