Potters Waste Management says that a partial permit suspension for the processing of residual waste into refuse derived fuel (RDF) at its site at Pembroke Port in Wales is causing thousands of tonnes of waste to be diverted to landfill.
And National Resources Wales (NRW) has claimed this week that the partial suspension of the permit for the site will remain in place until issues have been resolved.
NRW partially suspended Potters permit in 2017 after repeated complaints from local community over smell and flies coming from Pembroke Port
Potters signed a 15-year deal with Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion county councils in 2015 to process and export black bag waste in the form of RDF for energy recovery in Sweden. Work is carried out by Potter Group through its subsidiary Sundorne Products.
Teething problems
In August 2015, Potters said it had experienced “teething problems” at the facility (see letsrecycle.com story) with odour and flies coming from bales of waste.
This led to an enforcement notice from NRW following an investigation into the site. The notice confirmed Potters had breached the conditions of its permit and asked them to take measures to improve their waste operation.
Potters said that it has undertaken a review with “leading experts in the field of odour and pest control”, concluding that there was no odour coming from the site and their pest controls were more than enough to prevent flies causing a nuisance.
Suspension
In October 2016, Potters appealed the notice, but in February 2017, dropped its appeal. By April 2017, NRW decided to partially suspend the permit after conditions of the permit were “still not being met”.
Commenting this month, a Potters spokesperson said: “…Potters worked collaboratively with NRW and the regulator relayed actions taken by the company with neighbours to allay any concerns resulting in the complaints subsiding.”
Potters said that it is “totally committed to compliance and undertook the removal of all baled RDF” and decided not to appeal the suspension, “choosing rather to continue to work positively with NRW with the objective of being a good neighbour and fully complying with the notice”.
“The environmental objectives of the facility are currently being defeated, possibly attributable to perceptual issues,” the Potters spokesperson added.
Jon Willington, Waste Regulation Team Leader, NRW said: “We stepped in and took action against Sundorne Products (Llanidloes) Ltd because of concerns relating to the way the company was operating, and the unacceptable impact it was having on the community.
“Our partial suspension of the permit will remain in place until the company has demonstrated to us that they can properly address those concerns.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
