A FARMER and butcher has urged businesses to make sure their waste disposal is properly controlled after meat refuse from his shop ended up in a superstore’s car park.
Eighteen closed bags of bones and other animal parts were found in and next to a rubbish bin at Tesco’s Askham Bar store, Robert MacKay, prosecuting for City of York Council, said.
They came from Knavesmire Butchers, owned by Anthony Swales, a pedigree cattle breeder from Melbourne, near Pocklington.
Swales’s solicitor, Andrew Tinning, told York magistrates his client had given the meat refuse to a driver to take as normal to the York and Ainsty Hunt. But the driver had dumped it at the supermarket’s Askham Bar car park instead of taking it to the Hunt.
The driver had since been sacked, the court heard. The arrangement the shop had with the Hunt at the time did not include the issuing of receipts, meaning Swales was unaware of what had happened. He had since changed his waste procedures and now received receipts.
The court also heard the meat refuse was not harmful to humans.
Swales, 49, pleaded guilty to two charges of depositing waste without a permit, on the grounds that he was responsible as the business’ owner.
He was ordered to pay a total of £2,775.50 – a £1,250 fine, £80.50 compensation to City of York Council for removing the bags, £1,430 prosecution costs, and a £15 Government-imposed victim surcharge.
Speaking outside court, he urged other businesses to check their legal requirements when disposing of waste and to make sure they kept records of where they put it.
“It’s important to have a paper trail,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know they have to have the proper controls.”
Mr MacKay said many businesses were unaware of their requirements under environmental law to control their rubbish correctly.
Mr Tinning said Knavesmire Butchers now labelled all its refuse and made sure it was disposed of correctly. Swales also ensured all its staff were properly trained in the correct refuse disposal.
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