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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex
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 Posted: Thu Nov 25, 04 5:26 pm Post subject: Battle to scale fridge mountains |
 
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Landowners and environment experts are locked into a �1.2m stalemate over how to get rid of Greater Manchester's fridge mountains.
A contractor handling the fridges went bust in March leaving about 120,000 appliances rotting in storage yards.
Environment Agency (EA) bosses said it is the worst case of fridges waiting to be disposed of in the country.
It says it is involved in discussions with landowners, Defra and the local authority to resolve the situation.
'Optimistic of resolution'
Britannia Import Export handled dumped fridges from across the region since European Union (EU) laws requiring them to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way were introduced in January 2002.
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) ended its contract with (BIE) at the end of 2003, just months before the firm went into liquidation.
The company had operated on four sites at Chadderton and Failsworth, near Oldham and two in Trafford Park.
According to the EA disposing of the remaining fridges will cost between �750,000 and �1.2m.
Property firm Brixton Ltd, which owns the Trafford Park sites, said: "We bought the site in March this year. The fridges were already on the site," he said.
It is an absolute mess, the government knew what was coming with these EU regulations, why didn't they take appropriate action?
Garry Buckley, landowner
"We became quickly aware of the possible environmental problem. We are optimistic we will have a sufficient resolution to it in the new year."
Garry Buckley, of Buckley Transport, who owns the Chadderton site, is storing his remaining fridges in containers after 30,000 caught fire last month.
"It is an absolute mess, the government knew what was coming with these EU regulations, why didn't they take appropriate action?," he said.
"I am now dealing with a third person at the EA, it made arrangements to have a meeting but it has had over 12 months and it is still dealing with it."
'Do sympathise'
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said a financial provision was made to cover 40,000 fridges.
"But because BIE brought more fridges onto the sites than they were allowed to under their licence there are still some there," she said.
"We do sympathise. Technically it is the landowners' responsibility for the fridges. It is a huge undertaking and we are working very hard to find a solution with the interested parties."
She added the company and its directors had been prosecuted for breaching its licence and other charges were still pending.
Defra said it was an "isolated incident" as there was sufficient capacity around the country to deal with fridges.
Friends of the Earth called for the fridges to be moved and dealt with properly.
Noone from the former Britannia Import Export could be contacted for a comment.
Story from BBC NEWS:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/manchester/4037821.stm
Published: 2004/11/24 15:57:56 GMT |
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex
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