The Environment Agency has served a notice to suspend the environmental permit for a waste site near Chichester with immediate effect.
This means that Twyford Recycling Limited, of Twyford Avenue, must not bring waste of any description on to their site.
The Environment Agency visited the site on Thursday 18th June, and identified several issues with fire safety and the risk of pollution.
Twyford Recycling Limited is a tyre recycling plant, a facility for the recovery and treatment of end-of-life tyres.
The operator is permitted to import, deposit, and treat this waste. The resulting product is sent off site and used for engineering projects.
The operator is permitted to import, deposit, and treat tyres
The site visit identified that appropriate measures to prevent fires on site had not been taken, and that this posed a risk of water and air pollution.
Officers found that waste tyres were being stored outside of correctly constructed bays, which limited the ability to tackle and extinguish a fire. They also noted that inadequate fire water was accessible on site.
If there was a fire at this location, the prevailing wind could carry smoke emissions towards the A27 and Chichester, putting the environment and human health at risk.
There is also the risk that water run-off from firefighting would pollute the River Lavant near the site.
Officers were also concerned about the risk of pollution to groundwater from runoff.
Officers found that waste tyres were being stored outside of correctly constructed bays
The site has been told to remove the risk of pollution, by removing all loose, shredded and baled tyres from the site. This action must be completed by 6pm on 2 July.
It is an offence to contravene any requirements of the notice.
Michael Turner, Area Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said
When we find a waste site not playing by the rules, we step in and take swift action to shut it down. That’s the case with Twyford Recycling where we’ve suspended its permit.
We have firmly told the operator no more waste is allowed and to get rid of the risk of pollution before it blights the community and the environment.
The visit was part of a waste enforcement operation which also saw the Environment Agency conduct a roadside stop of vehicles coming into and out of the site.
Roadside stops are one way the Environment Agency gathers intelligence about waste movements and possible waste crime.
Under Regulation 37(1) & (5) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, the Environment Agency may suspend an environmental permit if they consider that the manner of operating a regulated facility contravenes an environmental permit condition and that such contravention involves a risk of pollution.
Twyford Recycling Limited has two months to appeal the decision through the Planning Inspectorate, although if there is an appeal, the requirements of the notice still need to be carried out.