Shopkeeper convicted after dumped waste was found

A Rochdale shopkeeper has been ordered to pay almost £1,400 after his business’ waste was found dumped in the town centre.

Mohammed Yasin, 34, of Ditton Mead Close, Rochdale, pleaded guilty at Rochdale Magistrates Court on Friday (13 May) for failing to take reasonable measures to dispose of his business’ waste appropriately and prevent the ‘escape of waste’ as defined in the Environmental Act 1990.

The Act places a duty upon all businesses to ensure waste is removed by registered waste carriers and is transported to a registered waste site. It’s the business owner’s duty to secure waste and prevent any unauthorised removal by vandals, thieves, animals, accident or weather.

Magistrates ordered him to pay fines and costs totalling £1396.59 for breaking the law.

Back in June 2010, Rochdale Borough Council’s environmental enforcement officers found bags of waste fly-tipped on a town centre car park. Evidence gathered by searching through the waste led the officers to a shop called Right Price on Edenfield Road, Rochdale. This business is owned and operated by Mr Yasin.

Dennis Pennill, Waste Service Manager at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Businesses must ensure that their waste is disposed of only through licensed contractors or at a licensed waste disposal site. We’ll always take appropriate action against any business which fails to comply with its legal duties.”

Mr Yasin was the fourteenth person to be convicted of a waste offence in Rochdale this year.