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Healthcare Environmental responds to stockpiling claims

By 08/10/2018News

Healthcare Environmental Services has denied that any dangerous waste on its sites has been stockpiled, and stated that all waste is “correctly stored and adheres to agreed guidelines“.

However, the company did confirm that due to a lack of incineration capacity, its site in Normanton, West Yorkshire, has reached a level where alternative storage has been sought.

Healthcare

Healthcare Environmental’s southern offices near Wakefield

The defence comes in light of widespread national media reports that the company was stockpiling human body parts and other dangerous wastes while it looked for incineration capacity, a stance which the government and the company has denied.

In a statement on Friday (October 5), the company reiterated that there is no risk to the public and that it will continue running services to ensure that NHS hospitals don’t have to risk “potentially turning away patients”.

“Our licenced sites store mainly clinical waste collected from the NHS in strict accordance with the Environment Agency regulations,” the company said.

It added: “We have welcomed visits from the EA a number of times over the past few months and have pointed out to them that the amount of waste produced by the NHS for incineration, far outweighs the entire incineration capabilities of the UK and not just Healthcare Environmental Services.”

When referencing media reports, the company  further added that the amount of anatomical waste it collects in England each week only amounts to 1% of the overall tonnage of waste collected. “Anatomical waste is not stored on any of our facilities for longer than is allowed by permitted guidelines,” the company’s release added.

Pettigrew

Healthcare Environmental’s Garry Pettigrew has said he is shocked by some of the claims made against the company

Shocked

As part of the release, Both Garry and Alison Pettigrew, the company’s directors, issued a joint statement saying they were shocked by some of the accusations.

“Whilst the interest in this story hasn’t come as a shock to us, the vitriol and the accusations against us, the company and our team has,” the joint statement said.

It continued:” “The vital service that we provide is something that we are all proud of. We have a great team of people and we thank them at this difficult time.

“We started out in this business more than 20 years ago and we have enjoyed a close working relationship with officials from the various agencies throughout this time. We will continue to work with all involved until this UK wide issue is resolved.”

Legal

The statement issued on Friday comes in the wake of an announcement by the Environment Agency which said that it was to launch legal proceedings against the company (see letsrecycle.com story).

Tyneside

The company’s site near Tyneside at its opening in 2015 which is home to a treatment and transfer station

In its announcement, an Environment Agency spokesperson said: “The Environment Agency has found Healthcare Environmental Services to be in breach of its environmental permits at sites which deal with clinical waste. We are taking enforcement action against the operator, which includes clearance of the excess waste, and have launched a criminal investigation.

 

The post Healthcare Environmental responds to stockpiling claims appeared first on letsrecycle.com.

Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment