Londonderry: Man found guilty over waste dumping offences

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Coleraine CourthouseImage source, Google

A man has been found guilty of three waste offences, after 7,600 tonnes of non-compliant waste was discovered at a Londonderry site.

Londonderry Crown Court, sitting in Coleraine, heard that Thomas McGlinchey, 62, from Belfield Park, was a director of Brickkiln Waste Ltd.

He will be sentenced at the end of April.

Lorry driver John Ferguson, 68, from Princess Terrace, was found not guilty of two waste offences.

Officials from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency were present on the land off Carnmoney Road in October 2013, when they observed a lorry depositing controlled waste.

An intrusive survey under warrant revealed it was waste the site was not authorised or engineered to accept at the time.

The waste included items of household and commercial waste, food packaging, carpet, plaster board, construction and demolition waste and products of the waste recovery process called plastic trommel fines.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said these types of waste should be treated in a materials recycling facility or disposed of at an appropriately authorised landfill.

"The act of infilling the waste at this unauthorised area ultimately undercuts the legitimate waste industry, evades landfill tax and leads to environmental degradation," it added.

Brickkiln Waste Ltd was an authorised waste company at the time of the offence.