Kilsaran trucks used to backfill Kilmessan quarry breached EPA waste licence

Kilsaran trucks used to fill Kilmessan quarry breached EPA waste licence

A concrete company had some of the trucks used to backfill a disused quarry at Kilmessan avoiding a weighbridge which was meant to ensure that it was fulfilling its responsibilities under the Waste Management Act, a local court was told.

Kilsaran Concrete, Tullykane, Kilmessan was prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency at Navan District Court for allegedly failing to comply with certain conditions of its waste licence granted by the EPA. The summons read that the company failed to ensure that reports submitted to the EPA in respect of waste accepted at the quarry at Tullykane on 3rd December 2021 was certified contrary to Section 39 of the Waste Management Act 1996 (as amended).

A lawyer for the EPA told the court that Kilsaran Concrete had a licence to take in stone and gravel in order to backfill the abandoned quarry. A maximum tonnage of waste per year was specified and there were also reporting conditions attached to the licence, the court heard.

The weighbridge was on the premises in order to register tonnage passing over it and every 2,000th truck was tested to see what type of material was going into the quarry. The EPA had found that trucks were bypassing the weighbridge and an “estimated weight” was applied. This occurred between 20th September 2021 and 26th October 2021. The court was told that the company was conducting a trial whereby it would estimate weight but this was disallowed under the conditions of its licence.

The EPA had seen trucks going around the weighbridge and started a compliance investigation. The company had no previous convictions.

A defending lawyer said that the company had been fully co-operative with the EPA. There was no environmental pollution resulting from itds actions. Two hundred and fifty two people were employed by the company, which was a “significant” employer in Co Meath. What the company had been doing was an attempt to alleviate a traffic situation on the public road.

Long before the present prosecution started, the company had donated a five-acre piece of land to a local sports club. It had also raised e45,000 last Christmas for the charities Pieta House, Laura Lynn, and the Children’s Hospital.

Judge Cormac Dunne said that what had happened appeared to be a trial by the company in relation to traffic build-up on surrounding roads. He said there appeared to be a lack of communication between the company and the EPA. It was significant that no deleterious material had come onto the site and there were no public health or safety concerns. He also took into account that the company was a company of significant repute in the area, employing 252 people. He applied the Probation of Offenders Act to the case