A metal recycling centre in south Wales has been hit with a bill for almost £50,000 following a probe that uncovered breaches of its environmental permit.
Ammanford Recycling was fined a total of £42,000 at Swansea Crown Court and ordered to pay £4,652.42 in costs and a surcharge of £2,000.
An investigation carried out by Natural Resources Wales early last year found that the operator had failed to immediately respond to an incident where oil escaped from its site onto neighbouring land.
Under the permit, Ammanford is required to immediately implement control and remediation procedures in line with the necessary standards following a potentially polluting leak or spillage.
The company also failed to comply with a requirement to keep waste clearly segregated from refuse kept on site for exempt waste management operations.
Natural Resources Wales senior waste regulations officer David Ellar said: “Every business in the waste industry must have a permit to move, store or treat waste, and ensure it is carried out in a way that does not pose risk to the environment or human health.
“This facility was found to be in breach of several conditions within its permit, which was evidently having a negative impact on the surrounding environment.
“Wherever possible, we work with operators to make sure their activities comply with the law, but when a business continues to fail to comply we will take legal action.”
