Chesterfield-based Channel Hardware, and director Steven
Constable, 48, from Mansfield, were charged with keeping waste
without a licence and failing to prevent the escape of waste by not
storing it in a secure area.
Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard that the monitors were
traced back to Channel Hardware, whose business was to carry out
computer repairs and deal with discarded computer equipment.
The company had apparently been in touch with the Environment
Agency in August 2004, when it asked if the business needed a waste
management licence. The Environment Agency wrote to say that a
licence would be required.
According to the Environment Agency, computer monitors are
classified by the European Waste Catalogue as hazardous and are
regarded as dangerous to the environment because they contain a
cathode ray tube – a sealed vacuum that can explode if crushed.
In addition, the screens have phosphor, lead and barium, which
can pollute if washed into the ground.
In this case there was no actual pollution, but there was
potential pollution, said the Environment Agency, which brought the
case.
The Agency explained that that Channel and Mr Constable had
illegally stored the monitors in an unlocked courtyard and had
failed to take measures to prevent them being stolen.
The court fined the firm and its director £5,000 and ordered
them to pay costs of £2,698.44.
In sentencing, the chairman of the bench said the company was
aware it should have had a waste management licence and had
deliberately failed to apply for one, and so had avoided the costs
of its legitimate competitors.
They had shown a “cavalier attitude to the storage of waste,”
said the chairman.
According to reports, Channel Hardware plans to appeal.
