Carlsberg UK was fined a total of £25,000 and ordered to pay £2,001 costs by Selby magistrates on March 7 after staff disposed of hazardous substances illegally.
Carlsberg UK was fined a total of £25,000 and ordered to pay £2,001 costs by Selby magistrates on 7 March after staff disposed of hazardous substances illegally.
The company, of Bridge Street, Northampton admitted two offences in July and September 2003 of knowingly depositing corrosive acid and alkali at Womersley Mill, Doncaster Road, Whitley without a proper waste management licence.
It also admitted two charges of failing to complete a consignment note detailing the movement of the special waste from its brewery in Leeds to the Whitley site. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
The court heard how officers visited a plastics recycling company in Whitley and found around 650 Carlsberg drums.
Some of the drums contained liquids and tests on these contents showed the waste to be either strong acids or strong alkalis, both of which are very corrosive and are classed as a ‘special waste’.
Magistrates heard how Carlsberg UK had failed to follow its own procedures and a duty of care when it handed over the drums without checking that the company held a Waste Management Licence to receive them.
In its defence, Carlsberg UK told the court that staff at all levels had now been trained in the correct procedures of waste disposal to ensure that a similar incident never happened again.
After the case, Environment Agency enforcement officer Paul Salter said: "It is Carlsberg UK’s responsibility to make sure that its waste is disposed of correctly and by a company which is licensed to receive it.
"In this case, Carlsberg failed to do this and as a result, potentially hazardous waste was given to a company which did not have a waste management licence to deal with it. The law recognises that companies need to take responsibility for their waste disposal and this has been highlighted by the large fine handed down by magistrates to Carlsberg UK."
