James McHale, 70, has been fined £34,000 for illegally handling waste tyres at sites in Grangemouth, Alloa, Dundee, Fife and Aberdeenshire.
McHale Fined Due to Clear Lack of Waste Management Licence
McHale kept huge quantities of worn and discarded tyres, waste tyre shred, burned tyre residue and baled tyres, without waste management licences. Depute Fiscal Kate Fleming said, all of the tyre storage was without the authority of a waste management licence and was carried out by McHale and a company with which he was associated, UK Steel Corporation Ltd. Ms Fleming, specialist environmental crime prosecutor at the Crown Office, added: “He was the manager who was told not to let any more tyres in, and he continued to do so.” McHale, of Coupar Angus, Perthshire, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Environmental Protection Act.
UK Steel Corporation Ltd is based in Lincolnshire. A brief company search reveals a list of related companies with a mix of generally similar directors opening and closing over a period of time. Tyre and Rubber Recycling first noticed this when there was some concern raised in the industry when the firm was awarded a grant towards buying a shredder for a proposed plant at Grangemouth. We could find neither planning permission nor any record of a Licence at that time.